A girl wearing swimwear and two lumps of crude metal who’s ends were twisted into snarling human toothed maws filled with guns skimmed across the waves. Around her sailed her twisted sisters, some looking just like her, others deformed and barely humanoid, all of them paling when compared to the terrible beauty of the railgun tailed princess commanding the assault.

Their target was a luxirouse vessle that had foolishly sailed into their waters, and yet what should have been a soft target had turned out to be anything but. Onboard the ship, an eclectic force returned fire with arrows, lasers, bullets, sorcery and more, their deadly rain cutting down the fleet’s forces with frightful ease.

The girl saw her sisters’ bodies shattered, melted, and punctured as they fell around her, familiar reflections suffering familiar fates.

Then she saw her own death.

A figure, unknown to the girl then and yet well known to the girl (or so she had thought anyway) now stomped over to the side of the ship she was attacking, hoisting a massive fireball cannon over his shoulder. With a pair of roars from weapon and wielder, the oversized weapon fired, and the memory came to an end.

That one hurt a bit more than the previous ones.

Then yet another began.

Enemy ship girls, sea monsters, grineer troopers, actual full sized war ships and more all put an end to the girl. Over and over and over death came, and over and over the system remade her to be fodder.

There was no towering height before a Consul cut her down, no running away to live a peaceful life in some quiet backwater. There was no story that was her own to remember, because this was it. This, out of so many lives, untold re-spawns, was the only time she had ever been anything more than a pawn with a lifespan measured in weeks at most.

Next time it would be more of the same.

It was that, not the replays, that was the real nightmare. The lives, real or imagined, blurred together until everything clarified into the sight of a spiky shelled turtle walking away from her as everything she was now turned to ash, rotting away, revealing the infinitely replaceable peon within.

Then it ended with a light slap on her cheek.

Rika’s eyes blinked open sleepily and she tried to move, only to find herself more or less ensnared in blankets as a result of her tossing and turning. She groaned quietly, and then her eyes found the scribbled face of a haunted patchwork Pikachu doll staring at her from where it was perched on her shoulder.

That had really freaked her out the first time it had happened, but now she just moved her eyes down to where Mimi the mimikyu’s actual eyes where (namely in the doll’s torso) and found them looking concerned,

Rika (that was her name, she had one, she’d picked it, it was hers) made a incomprehensible grunt of ”mnya before sighing and trying to getting her vocal cords to actually work so she could apologized for waking the mon, only for it to push the cotton filled head of its disguise forwards to rub against her cheek.

She sighed again, staying still and enjoying the moment for a moment, before glanced over at the other bed where a spiky turtle shell lay atop a pillow alongside two other pokemon. A soft muffled snoring came from within the shell, while a bubble inflated and deflated at Dazzle’s nose, and Peeka’s spectral form was clipping through the mattress in a way it somehow found comfortable

She was relieved that she hadn’t woken anyone else.

”Thanks“ the ship girl managed to say drowsily to Mimi, sleep coming for her again, before scooping up the little eldritch horror that had woken her from her nightmares in her arms, and cuddling it while she drifted back to sleep.

Her second harvest was fortunately/sadly a much more meager crop of night terrors than the first.

---

In another room, Edward tossed and turned as well (though for him this was mostly due to trying to work out how in the world you slept in a bed comfortably when you had two massive feathery wings sticking out your back) while in a third Midna dreamed of her past life as conqueror of the Dead Zone again, mind drifting to and from battles fought in places that no longer where.

Blessedly the alarm went off before the dream could reach the fatal encounter with D, but even dreaming of that place reminded her of him, and that was not, in her mind, a good omen for the mission it turned out they were going to be going on.

Edward arrives at that meeting by virtue of operating under military time schedules and sharing a room with a man who did the same, and who seemed disinterested in small talk. Midna got there on time thanks to shadow hopping from her room to the briefing in no time at all after initially running late (her new sea of hair was an absolute face to keep tidy). Finally, Rika and Jr were late thanks to the former soldier needing to badger the spoiled prince into not just going back to sleep after the alarm had finished going off.

The yawning sleepy eyed prince got a pair of wake-up calls in short order however.

The first was the knowledge that they were going back to the dead zone (he’d muffled Hope’s announcement with a pillow), which he’d only been in very briefly, and had very much not enjoyed during that short stint. Neither had the other Koopas during their varying length trips to it, which cemented his distaste for the place.

Rika had heard about those misadventures second hand as well, commenting ”That’s the place Papa really didn’t like, right? So isn’t it kinda good that it got exploded?”

”yeahhhh, but now we gotta clean up the mess, urgh” he grumbled back quietly, only for the second shock to really wake him up properly.

Midna, Edward and many others might have balked at the use of infants of all things as detection devices, but for Jr it was the specific infants that he took issue with, namely: ”what, no way I’m going to carry Mario around like some kind of yoshi! Not him, not Luigi, not Peach or Rosalina!” and not just because caring around his Papa’s worst enemy around in the same way Kamek’s one had done felt a bit like a betrayal. No, the real reason he was indigent was because ”Those babies can walk. And drive! And all sorts of stuff! Hanging out in pods like that is just being lazy”

That certainly got him some befuddled stares from Minda and Edward at least, neither able to really handle the absurdity of this outburst (also, when it came down to it, knowing the names of the infants just made the entire situation worse).

”The sensor things look pretty heavy though” Rka suggested, but Jr just huffed and said ”If he can swing a baseball bat and get a home run he can handle a sensor thing” with a level of spite that made it pretty clear who’d been on the opposing team when that home run was hit

Edward coughed awkwardly in an attempt to put anything between that fever dream of a conversation and his own words, before saying ”Well. Given that without access to magic I will be of considerably less help, I suppose I could handle taking care of one of the young fellow’s… associates”

”Enemies” Jr clarified pointedly, earning him an ”I… See…” from Edward before he went on ”at any rate, my focusing entirely on the BT detection task will free up other less magic focused to handle the combat side of things, assuming there is even anything alive to fight alive in this wasteland”

”If there is, then it's good I’ve gotten better at stabbing things then, because I’d have been useless without magic before all my fusions” Minda commented, mostly because she had some tangentially relevant info/scheming to provide ”Speaking of: D is one of the Consuls of the Dead Zone, and I expect he won’t be happy about his energy source being wiped off of the map. He killed me in a past life when I was riding high on demonic power, annihilated an army I conjured effortlessly with his sorcery. Those magic suppression fields might let us turn the table on him, if we can get one and some physical fighters close to him” a notion she grinned with glee about.

There was nothing wrong with wanting a bit of revenge after all, at least as far as the princess was concerned.

With Jr refusing to carry things despite his own magic reliance, and Rika very much on the far end of the useful without magic end of the spectrum, that was all their contributions to the mission sorted out. Which meant it was time for breakfast, a most important meal both to fuel the mission and, for Edward, as a chance to meet and observe the very strange group of people he was now working with.

Edward Portsmith acquired himself some good old fashioned bangers and mash (admittedly the silver flecked with gold ginger was not a standard coloration of said meal) and did his best to avoid any wing related accidents as he sought out a seat. The new appendages were very much a thing he was debating on whether to keep or not after the nuisance they had been to sleep in.

They were also, as it turned out, awkward to sit in, which is why the man picked himself an empty table to avoid inflicting the process of trying to fit the flappers against the backrest comfortably without batting any neighbors with them. Sandalphon joined him soon after.

The King of Evil’s breakfast was a lot more modest than one might expect. Rather than a lavish feast like one would expect a royal to eat, his plate instead contained a simple omelet with chicken-sausage wrapped within, and a side of toasted bread with cheese on it. Even his choice of drink was a surprisingly humble mug of apple cider, albeit the mug was indeed of a size big enough to suit someone of his stature. Perhaps he was more of a drinker than an eater? Or maybe it was because the Gerudo hadn’t just come to the table to eat. He also had a handful of parchments placed out next to where his plate was sitting, and he himself appeared to be reading them over while he ate his meal.

”I believe you might be interested to see this.” Ganondorf said with a gesture toward Sandalphon followed by tapping the parchments on the table before pushing them across the table for her to read for herself. ”Communications between a bandit faction in the Sandswept Sky and Consul H.” He let the designation of the Consul inquisition hang in the air a bit due to the implications before adding the confirmation. ”The one who was supposed to have been killed, I believe? Well it seems he’s still alive after all.”

The archangel, who’d been making slow progress on her food so far despite the extra honey, seemed immediately attentive to the new intelligence. “H,” she repeated. “If memory serves, Dawn alluded to H when she met us in Ballyhoo’s Big Top following our games. She mentioned that the Avenger’s scanners detected the launch of a Bastion Fleet Carrier -possibly the same one that assaulted Alcamoth- in the vicinity of Zurvan Amp Station, a New Conglomerate base in the northern reaches of the eastern desert. We assumed the worst-case scenario, that H himself had mobilized it in response to the encounter with Z, but we could not confirm.” She nodded at Ganondorf. “This does confirm our suspicions, then. Both Consuls who attacked Alcamoth returned home unscathed.” After a moment, she tried to put a positive spin on her next statement. “At the very least, our sources indicate that L has ceased hostility following her defeat.”

Zenkichi, who himself had a plate with an omelet and rice, the former drizzled with a bit of ketchup, shook his head. ”Well, that's a shame. But given that they brought enough people to take down Alcamoth, I guess I can't say I'm too surprised. I'm just glad we got out of there before having to deal with another Consul fight. Three in one day was a few too many…” Between Y, C, and Z, Zenkichi could go the rest of his life without seeing a Consul and be happy about it.

“Good morning, detective,” Sandalphon took the time to say, though she did not go any more in depth into pleasantry than that. “Luckily, we have been moderately successful in minimizing contact with Moebius since then. Yesterday’s brief encounter with Consul Ɪ is the exception. With our comrades’ presence in Mafia Town discovered, their evacuation last night was timely.” Even in this state the archangel could talk non-stop if she wanted to, so she made a conscious effort to pipe down and make progress on her meal.

”I don’t suppose there is a glossary available which would let me brush up on half the terminology you just used? The information I’ve received has been rather grapeshot in nature” Edward asked after looking mildly bemused during the conversation that had just been had, making this request entirely straight face.

Upon hearing the request, Sandalphon’s pupils immediately changed to loading rings. “Just a moment.”

After acquiring their own plates of food (humble ones when compared to some of the other Seekers), the Orsterran duo moved to sit at what could reasonably be called the "quiet table." The make-up of the other three seemed to consist of the rowdier members of their group, and it didn't seem like the early hour was going to make any difference there. Primrose arrived first, gracefully taking a seat while she set her plate down. Before Therion got the chance, the table's last chair was snatched away by a witch. He blinked at the woman, then with a silent sigh dragged himself over to another table.

Hiding her amusement behind her coffee mug, Primrose took a long drink. The warmth spread through her, perking her up after the earlier meeting.

"Good morning," she greeted everyone, eyeing the documents Ganondorf had spread over a section of the table. Then she glanced at the gray-winged man, offering him a sympathetic smile. "I'm afraid not. To my knowledge anyway. Though creating an informational pamphlet has been discussed."

She paused to lift a cuberry to her mouth. Mm, it's good. "I'm sure someone has gone over the... more important things with you? Though if you were curious about anything else, I suppose before we leave would be the time to ask. Mr...?"

”Portsmith-” the man replied crisply, before adding ”Edward Portsmith to be exact.” and then tapping a finger on the table twice has he fought, before coming up with a question.

”I am aware of the broad strokes of the objective and the opposition, though these were delivered under battlefield conditions and such there was little fine detail involved” he explained, ”I am aware this is not exactly time for a detailed run down on the state of the war either, what with the impending deployment, so I’ll keep the purview of my question related to that”

That question turned out to be a very practical one, namely ”How, exactly, would you describe the threat level of these Consuls, Guardians, and this ‘Master Hand’?”

“They are all servants of Galeem in some way, but Guardians merely exist, while Consuls enforce its will, albeit without direct guidance. We know precious little about Master Hand, but out of all our foes it seems most akin to Galeem’s direct subordinate. Here, perhaps this will help.” As her processing came to an end, Sandalphon waved her left hand in front of her, summoning a two-dimensional screen of softly glowing yellow, like a tapestry woven in midair. At her bidding the screen collapsed, but after casting her hand at Edward it expanded in front of him within arm’s reach. Listed therein were dozens and dozens of terms, each with a plus sign that could be pressed to expand the section, which revealed a definition and links to related entries. The miraculous page even came with a search bar, which would automatically tap further into Sandalphon’s powers to create a keyboard.

“This is all the non-sensitive information I have about the key players in this conflict, including those you mentioned,” the archangel told Edward. “I regret that you cannot take it with you, but as long as we’re in proximity, this interface can be used to partake in what I know.” With that she returned her attention to her breakfast, her focus unnecessary.

Primrose hummed in appreciation. "You've been busy," she told the archangel. "Is this something you've been working on, or did you just create it now?"

Edward certainly considered it ”Fascinating” as he was immediately all over this wondrous creation. He tapped open a few terms, and then upon seeing the depth of information on offer, pulled out a small journal within which he began jotting key facts down.

Zenkichi hummed at Primrose’s comment, swallowing a spoonful of rice. Not sure about that one specifically, but busy doesn't even begin to describe it. She's been doing research nearly nonstop since we got picked up. " He stopped short of describing the state Sandalphon's overworking had put her in, but gave the archangel a small smile, commiserating in the plight of an overworked professional having to hunt down every little detail to put together intel. Somewhat surprised by his expression, Sandalphon couldn’t help but smile in return, which looked a little silly with a full mouth.

”Then again, the kids and I took down J over in Shibuya, so…can't exactly say I took it easy, myself." That comment was more for the sake of Edward and Ganondorf, to help keep them up to speed on that front. His earlier melancholy about how that venture ended had mostly abated, but to say it vanished would be inaccurate, and a slight pull at his features betrayed it.

The dancer's gaze flickered over to Sandalphon. She seemed better today, but last night when she'd come to greet the Seekers at Meridi-at-Han she did have a weary look to her. It was hard to say for sure of course, given that Primrose still wasn't very familiar with the other woman. Primrose then glanced back at Zenkichi and the lines drawn by the expression on the older man's face.

"Hmm. Don't over do it, we've still got a long road ahead of us," she said. She lifted her drink to her lips again, adding to herself, and a time limit to walk it.

“Nevertheless, we cannot afford to waste any of the precious days we’re given,” Sandalphon pronounced, her pupils stress marks. “For any of us, tomorrow could be our last.” Her grave sentiment seemed to echo Primrose’s unspoken addendum, though one could not in good faith call that accidental. When the archangel looked over at the dancer, however, her eyes were back to normal. As normal as hers could ever be, anyway. “To answer your question, it’s all stored up here.” She extended a slender finger to tap her temple, her pupils shifting through a dozen symbols in the span of a second. “It takes some time to sift through and make presentable, but I can recollect and redistribute anything I’ve learned. 9S once called it a ‘photographic memory’, though if you’re anything like I was, you likely lack the context to give that phrase meaning.”

"You're right," Primrose admitted easily. "Though I've learned a few things. I think I get it." It was an impressive skill, superior to even the most learned scholars.

”and I look forward to learning them” Edward commented over the sound of a quill quietly scribbling across the pages. Notably it was not the one he had started with, as the man had harvested one of his own new feathers to keep writing when the old one broke. The ink meanwhile flowed endlessly, painting characters in hues of steel as it engraved the knowledge in sorcerous scripture.

His food sat mostly untouched as a result.

”As for time, it is certainly a fine line to walk. Particularly as overexertion can be just the invitation your end is waiting for” he added, before pausing his writing looking up at Sandalphon and saying ”So while I appreciate this greatly” referring to the terminal ”please do not see my enthusiasm for this wondrous technology as motivation for more overwork. I have plenty of other research material to fill my time with”

By this time, Ganondorf had read all he wanted to on the parchments and stacked them back together so they would take up less room on the table as more began to gather there. That and he wanted to finish his meal before it got too cold. So he began cutting bites out of his omelet and taking occasional swigs from his rustic mug of cider. ”I kept my own interactions with Moebius to a minimum as well.” He reported in case anyone was curious about it. ”But I did fight a war against one of their proxies. A faction of bandits with little to no leadership structure, except for one man who called himself their king. They had numbers, but not much else beyond that. Defeating them was practically child’s play.”

Sandalphon wondered what purpose that served, given the World of Light’s cyclical system of slaughter and repopulation, but she did not do so aloud. No good would come of courting conflict with Ganondorf, after all. His aura of darkness, so much like a demon’s, still made her reluctant to interact with him at all, so she opted to spare them both unnecessary conversation. Of course, with everyone’s attention split between their meals and Sandalphon’s study material, the archangel’s silence contributed to the conversation at her table trailing off. She and her comrades had a lot to think about, after all, and not much time before their mission began. Once the Seekers burst back onto the scene from their week-long hiatus, anything could happen.

Having been fairly quick to get to the head of the queue, by virtue of feeling no shame in making a run for it, the Koopa Kids got to make their choice of table. They picked an empty one, foolishly thinking that they’d get to keep it, but that would not last.

A plate full of sausage and eggs was set down and quickly stuck into by jr, while the lone pogofruit that had been forcibly added to the plate was sternly ignored. His second plate was meanwhile full of fruit, which was for his motley crew of minions. In a great contrast to her brother Rika had gotten an omelet with every weird vegetable in it, alongside having prompted the creation of, and then received the first portion of, a wonderfully odd fruit salad, both of which she began taste testing to see what all the new foods were like.

Thanks to the boon of poultry that the kitchen had at the moment, Pit was about to enjoy the amazing combination of fried chicken and waffles. Doused in sweet maple syrup, with a few of the chicken sausages and a veggie omelet on the side, he had a full breakfast awaiting him to dig in. And an apple juice to go with it. Despite often saying he was not a kid even if his appearance was youthful, Pit did usually seem to gravitate toward the younger Seekers. Like in mind, perhaps. So it didn't come as a surprise that he ended up at the third table. His wings were drawn up close to his back so that he didn't take up much more space than usual, and he didn't waste any time before starting to eat.

After privately seeking counsel with Lady Palutena, he felt a little better about the whole BB situation. He had to wonder how Junior felt about it though. Was he really fine with it besides just the fact he thought the babies were being lazy? And they really let babies drive go-karts? Babies and Link get to race and I still can't get an invite? Before he could think to ask, a noise cut through even the din of the mess hall.

A loud screech announced the Witch as she noisily dragged an extra chair up from Sandalphon’s table to the kids’, completely ignoring the seats already in place. She’d brought with her a portion of fish—specifically, an entire eight inch long dead fish, which lay flat on its plate alongside a mound of spinach and stared out at the world with cold, empty eyes.

Shortly after, Edelgard arrived with a picture-perfect breakfast consisting of assorted fruits, nuts, smoked meats, and a pair of eggs over easy. She sat and, the picture of noble grace, began to cut into and eat tiny, easily-consumed portions of each food, savoring the breadth of choices the Avenger had to offer. The morning's briefing lay heavy on her thoughts, especially the idea that any one of them being grabbed by these invisible foes would spell the entire group's immediate demise. She’d take Rhea again over that horror. As she took her seat, Pit shot her a smile. They'd missed her (and Edward and Midna) back at Palutena's Temple as the goddess and her army commended the commanders; he'd have to fill her in sometime.

Humming happily to herself, the Witch sliced the fish open lengthwise and began to pick out the bones. Her gaze eventually found Junior, however, whom she regarded with not a little curiosity. “Now what kind of thing are you? I didn’t think dragons were actually real.”

Oh, one of the new people? The angel had seen a few new faces at the meeting, but he hadn't given any of them more than a passing glance at the time. Inching away slightly from the woman's wide, dead-eyed fish plate, Pit left explaining what a Koopa was to the actual Koopa and instead let the Witch in on a universal truth.

"Everything's kinda real," he said casually, "even if it's in a different world from yours. Cool, right?"

”No.” Juri answered bluntly, on the Witch’s behalf. ”At least not when it’s the eleventy billionth time we’ve had the conversation.” For Juri it was more like three, counting this time. But they were on the Avenger, for crying out loud, who wasn’t with the program already?

Juri didn’t seem to have any mind for breakfast at the moment, instead she dropped her tommy gun on the table, and then leaned over it at Junior. ”I wanna see if you really are some kinda genius turtle, or just a regular dumb kid. You said you can make my gun shoot flaming bullets?” Juri asked.

”You’re not gonna eat?” Came the voice of Roxas sitting down more or less next to Pit, but his question was directed at the spider lady. ”I would if I were you. There’s no telling when we’ll get to eat next once the mission starts.” He sat his own breakfast onto the table, a plate containing a stack of three pancakes drizzled with syrup and topped with minced cuberries and a glass of pogofruit juice to drink. He’d gotten here a little later than some of the others mostly because of his three Pokemon nearby who were digging into their own meal consisting of nutritious Pokemon food. Clearly the Nobody was making sure he got them their food before he secured his own.

Jr, who had somehow been taught to not speak with his mouth full, but not to not shove his mouth full of food, had taken a while to clear up his tongue so it could be used to reply to the questions.

”I’m a Koopa, not a dragon, which is way better!” he first insisted, before reaching for his chest and tossing out a trio of pokeballs while explaining that ”and Mimi, Dazzle and Peeka are all part ghost” as he did so. The mon then promptly grabbed fruit he offered them and hurried off to join the others, Rika added that ”and I’m part ship”

The ship girl also had a mind to ask Juri ”How can you just, like, not try out this neat food? It’s all real weird” which in her mind was very much a compliment.

Juri made a defensive hand gesture at Rika and Roxas. ”You wanna get the hell off my back? I eat when I want. Right now I wanna see if dragon boy can really make my gun better.”

”Sheesh. Excuse me for living.” Roxas muttered. It was just a suggestion, not worth getting his head bitten off for it.

Pit suppressed a snicker, then leaned over to quietly tell Roxas, "Juri just pretends to be a sourpuss." He really didn't know the woman too well, but since she'd played minigames with them and seemed to actually want to be part of the group despite the attitude, he figured that she just wanted to make sure people knew she was tough. Then again, he hadn't been on the receiving end of said attitude yet, so his opinion could still change.

”Also yeah I can for sure do that! Easy!” Jr then replied to Juri as well as he grabbed the gun, and set about doing some on-the-table tinkering, snapping open a toolbox to do so. The modification was, as it turned out, pretty simple, as the prince removed the gun's magazine, and then into the slot below the chamber carefully inserted a hair from his magical paintbrush which would coat the tips of the rounds being pulled past it with burning ink as they were pulled past it.

”Probably won’t work while we’re in that magic suppression field, but after, you’ll be burning things up!” he informed her, a little annoyed that his work wasn’t going to be useful right away, before having an idea and asking ”Hey, do you want an even bigger gun for that bit? Got this crank operated thing that’s thiiiis big if you want it” as he spread his arms to denote the length of the Maulcher rotary gatling gun that he had strapped to his clown car at the moment.

Juri tilted her head, looking at her gun. Grabbing it by the back end she looked right down the barrel, taking in the now almost imperceptible adjustment made to it. ”That’s it?” She wasn’t sure what she expected. ”I coulda done that. I thought you were gonna hit it with a hammer or something.”

”On the contrary, Edelgard interjected. ”What may seem simple to those without the gift of magic or artifice is often the result of years of study to simplify an incredibly complex process.” A bit put-off that the many months she'd spent learning magic, and the years after refining that process, could be so thoughtlessly deemed ‘too simple’ was simply galling to the empress. She did her best to keep the derision she felt for Juri out of her voice, but such a monumental task was impossible even for somebody of Edelgard’s willpower. Juri was just that annoying.

Juri then reached her hand into Rika’s fruit salad, scooped up a bunch of it, and shoved it into her mouth. Dusting her hands off she looked at Roxas and Rika as if to say: ‘Happy?’ Then she kneeled one knee on the seat next to Junior, not quite sitting down. ”Nah. That’d just slow me down. We gotta be quiet if we wanna protect our creepy fetus machines from the antimatter ghosts.” Juri said. She glanced around, slung her gun over her shoulder, and promptly stood back up and buzzed off to the breakfast line.

”Well that was rude.” Roxas muttered under his breath. She didn’t ask permission or anything. And who knows if she washed her hands or not. He probably should have confronted her or something, but also thought it wasn’t worth picking a fight over. So instead he slid his plate in Rika’s direction. ”You can have some off the top of my pancakes if you want.” Essentially offering to let her replace some of the fruit Juri took.

A well made offer, which prompted the lengthy spear with a set of cannons at its base that had just teleported into Rika’s hand to be dropped in favor of a fork with which she could spear the peace offering alongside an ”ooo thank you thank you”

The Witch had been watching with eerie intensity while Junior disassembled the gun. She’d read up on killing machines like this on her telephone device, but to see its inner workings displayed so clearly before her… “Ingenious,” she whispered. And then, louder: “I’d like a big gun.” She met Junior’s eyes. “If you have one to spare anyway…”

”Huh?” the prince replied, seemingly a little confused by the request, though not at all put off by the spooky gal’s eye contact it seemed. Instead he started by unintentionally insulting her ”The Multcher’s probably too heavy for you” before asking the question that had caused his confusion ”Wait, who are you again?”

His sister meanwhile was entirely chipper again thanks to pancakes, and so said ”Oh are you new? Hi, I’m Rika!” before offering actual useful information by telling the Witch that ”The Avenger’s got an armory with all sorts of stuff in it. Probably got a couple of cannons in there. I think there was this energy blasting pistol? Oh and a shotgun that fired snakes.”

“I only showed up yesterday. I’m still adjusting to this place.” It was as much an excuse as an explanation, a way of playing off her behavior and curiosity. “As for who I am… Most people just call me Witch.” If her experiences so far were any indication, they’d probably start coming up with awful pet names for her right about now, and she could do little but grin and bear it.

It wasn’t all bad news, though. “A gun that fires serpents, you say? That sounds nearly too perfect to be true.” She leaned in closer to Rika, trying her best not to smile too creepily for once. “Would you help me find it before we go?

"Snakes? Why wouldn't you want one that shoots lasers or something? It would be way stronger," Pit chimed in as he polished off the last of his waffle.

“What a bold chicken you are! But no, I think I’ll stick with the snakes.” A laser-light could burn you once, but an angered serpent would strike time and time again, with noxious venom in its fangs. The Witch knew well which of the two she feared more.

"Wha- how come he gets to be a dragon but I'm a chicken?" came the complaint, along with a bark of a laugh from the (not) dragon in question.

Rika meanwhile just nodded, confirming that ”Mmm. Or. at leasts that it looked like it did? The monster it came from was really weird and just, full of snakes” Rika confirmed, smiling back with the social graces of someone who’d only learned she could do so a few weeks ago, which in this case meant very enthusiastically.

”and yeah, we can do that. We were probably gonna swing by after crushing a pair of spirits, coz I don’t think a weird sausage man and a really really really big crab are gonna make stuff we can really use. Maybe. Probably” she informed the Witch, before recalling how manners worked and adding ”Oh, and my name’s Rika. I picked it myself” to introduce herself.

With his pancakes gone now, Roxas just focused on his orange juice instead. He listened to some of the conversation about guns shooting different things but most importantly getting a proper introduction from Witch. ”I’m Roxas.” He said after swallowing down a big gulp of orange juice. ”I think I’ve been around for about… two weeks? Give or take a day or two?” After this he felt some nudging against his shin and looked down to find Scamp looking like he was trying to climb up. ”What? You want to meet everyone too or are you just looking for a chance to sneak a bite?” Roxas teased, but picked up the Yamper anyway and sat him on his lap before adding, ”Alright, alright, but I’m watching you, buddy.”

”Sorry about that, he’s Scamp, my Pokemon partner. He doesn’t bite but he likes to get up to mischief if I don’t keep an eye on him.”

Seeing that now seemed to be the time for introductions, Edelgard joined the round. ”I am Edelgard von Hresvelg. This is all…very different to me, I must admit. Before…whatever happened, I was an emperor. Now I am without a home, and all I know is that this Galeem creature is responsible.” Edelgard had stopped eating, setting her silverware down and crossing her hands atop one another as she spoke, her tone even and somber.

”Yeah?” Jr replied, misinterpreting this as an attempt as boast before laying out the smorgasbord of royals the seekers had among them ”Well our Papa’s the Koopa King, Sectonia a queen, Ganodorf’s the ‘King of Evil’” the prince paused his pointing to put air quotes around the gerudo's name ” and Midna over there’s a princess. But like one of those ruling princesses like Peach or Zelda, you know? Also she hates Ganondorf’s guts or something I dunno.”

Names, names, names. People put too much value in their names, and the Witch found it hard to really care. She preferred the dead, who didn’t talk so much and mostly didn’t care about what they were called. Maybe she’d get lucky and all these people would die in the upcoming mission, leaving her free to raise them all up as obedient and convenient servants.

Her expression remained eerily blank, but she did at least respond to them all with a small nod. “What a delight,” she said, without emotion no inflection, “it is to meet you all.”

She’d better hurry and prove herself indispensable before they all got better acquainted with her.

”And to meet you too!” Rika replied cherrily, not at all picking up on the meaning behind this lack of emotion, before asking ”Do you wanna head out now to get that gun? I’m basically done,” almost guaranteeing they were about to get at least a bit better acquainted.

While the Seekers picking up more people increased the group's strength and overall options, it also meant more mouths to feed. There were plenty of big eaters among the group already, but not many could pack it away quite like a monster hunter. Ace's metabolism worked on overdrive, and he had a large appetite on top of that - but even so he was good-natured enough to wait near the end of the food line and not wipe out the entire buffet when he got up there. He did still end up with two almost-overflowing plates for himself and a mug of coffee with plans for seconds afterward if he could get away with it, but hey, a man needed to eat.

Thankfully after the waiting his preferred seat was still open, though whether it just ended up that way or it was saved for him was unknown. Ace took a spot beside Nadia at the first table, unabashedly close to her. Considering how well last night had gone, he also opened with an equally shameless pun.

"Good morning brewtiful," he said with a sip of his coffee, so while it could be argued he was addressing the drink itself it was pretty obvious who the line was directed toward since his eye hardly left her face. "After all this time it feels kind of weird to finally be hashing out the Dead Zone, huh?"

When Ace placed himself behind her, Nadia pushed into him with unabashed immediacy, first her hip and then her shoulder pushed against his with jocular roughness. Just the sight of that goofy grin of his was enough to make her forget all about the ominous (and, given the ‘equipment’ they’d been prescribed, perhaps morally questionable) task ahead of them. Unlike Primrose she hadn’t remembered that the BBs were stuck as they were for their limited lifespans, just like everyone else, so the feral was happy to push those thoughts aside for the time being. With one food-based pun delivered already, the game was officially on, so she reached for the most normal-looking vegetable on her plate, which she’d filled with a little of everything. “Good meowning yourself, carrot top.” Crunch. That excited, electric tingle was tickling her again. Others would be headed over soon, so she’d only have Ace to herself for a few moments, but any amount of time made Nadia happy.

Of course, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, and the feral’s destination did way on her mind. “Didn’t mind putting it off, actually,” she admitted. “Zombies, ghost, parasites, literal demons…it was basically hell on earth. But that police station’s where I met the Seekers, so even if it was rough road gettin’ here, I ain’t gonna complain.” As she munched on a juicy pogofruit, she reminisce on the crypt where the Red Team fought the Skullgirl, Marie. The Skull Heart had been hers for the taking, but she’d made that same realization just in time–that as bad as things sometimes were, she wouldn’t want to change the events that made her who she was. By the time Nadia wolfed down her pogofruit, her fingers were covered in juice, so she licked them like a grooming cat, a playful grin on her face. “So whatever’s down there, I won’t be a-fur-aid!”

Ace couldn't say he was thrilled with going to such a place either, but once they got it out of the way they'd be that much closer to their ultimate goal, and hopefully they wouldn't have to deal with many undead afterwards. He was pressed thigh to shoulder with Nadia already, but he leaned a little closer ready to deliver some line about there being nothing to worry about if she stuck close to him, though at that point their table began to fill with other hungry would-be world savers.

”Oh? So the name of the area is literal then? Good to know.” Roland said, coming out of nowhere with a plate of various meats with dry spices on them and a cup of coffee. ”Just don’t raise any death flags by flirting a bunch while we’re down there now you two.” Roland said, making a bit of humor about how the two were acting towards each other, completely unaware of how true his statement actually was. He took a sip of his coffee, grimacing after he took a sip. ”Yep… Chesed ruined my taste for normal coffee alright…” he said in a lower tone of voice, clearly displeased.

Nadia raised an eyebrow at him, initially at how he knew she and Ace were an item, but then at his next statement. “Chesed?”

”One of the people I used to work with. Prim, proper, a bit too kind for his own good, and a coffee gourmand. Or I suppose ‘fanatic’ is more accurate. Made me try all types of exotic coffees and now plain coffee just doesn’t taste the same.” Roland said, grabbing a spicy sausage and taking a bite.

The feral shrugged, then took a sip of juice. “If you say so. I’m not much of a coff-feline.”

While the stranger chatted, Ace used the time to finish off his first plate of food (a collective of just about everything on offer, he wasn't picky) and move on to the second. He wasn't really embarrassed at being caught flirting, and it sounded like this guy didn't seem to mind, but it did make the hunter wonder if he should be more mindful in the public spaces... Nah, he decided simply. At least not until someone brought it up as an issue.

"Yeah, types of coffees really don't mocha much difference to me," he said. Although he did enjoy a strong cup. He set his own mug down and then reached a hand over the table towards the man. "We haven't met yet, right? I'm–" There was the briefest moment of hesitation as he decided whether to go with his title or his common nickname, something that always seemed to come up and he should really make up his mind about. "–Ace."

”Roland.” Roland said. He’d mention his fixer rank, but that really didn’t mean much anymore. ”Just make sure you guys don’t make any pawful puns. I got a feline Ms. Kitty here is used to them though.” Roland said, deciding to join in on the pun wars a bit. It looked like fun, or at least a bit amusing.

The hunter grinned. "Yolk's on you, our puns are oat-standing."
“Springing that a-pun us?” Nadia raised an eyebrow at Roland, tapping her plate with a nail. “Buddy, dishes not gonna end well.”

“I immediately regret coming over here.” Geralt deadpanned as he came upon the punning group of Seekers, but flashed Ace a half-smile and an appraising nod. “Good to see you back, Ace. I didn't end up with that one,” he said, gesturing to Nadia, “but I'm sure she was beside herself with worry. Literally.” He added, a smirk pointing out the flimsy pun.

"It's good to be back!" the hunter said, turning his grin toward Geralt. "Feels like it's been way too long since I've seen everyone. And this ship? So Gargwawesome."

The Witcher's mention of Nadia worrying over him changed Ace's smile from a wide friendly one to the slightly sappier one of a man clearly smitten. "Yeah, so she told me yesterday. I don't plan on us splitting up again anytime soon." he said, glancing at Nadia and giving her a playful nudge. Given her fighting style he added, "Well, me at least."

Halfway through a mouthful of food, Nadia snorted with laughter.

Roland gave an internal sigh of relief at Geralt showing up. He was sorta out of puns to reply with at that time and appreciated the distraction. ”Oh? So the pun twins have just gotten back together? What's that all about?” He said, diverting the conversation away from a pun-off as he ate another sausage.

The monster hunter leaned back in his seat as he addressed Roland's question, jabbing a thumb at his armored chest. "I haven't been around in a while, got stuck up north - long story. But I've been fighting alongside these guys for a while! Geralt and I fought through the Land of Adventure way back when, and together with Nadia when we had to cross an ocean." Geralt just gave a nod in concurrence, his mouth full of sausage at the moment.

Therion had slunk over to the table at some point before Roland started enabling the punsters. He'd gotten used to Ms. Fortune's linguistic antics, but now there was two of her. And it had barely been more than an hour since they'd woken up. After losing his seat at his first choice of tables, it kinda felt like he'd been banished to this one the longer they went on. Thankfully Geralt had interceded, leading to as much of a break as the table could hope for.

It doesn't stop even first thing in the morning, huh? Therion thought to himself. He didn't care enough to voice his complaint, despite the way his ears were lowered like he couldn't stand to hear anymore. He didn't even comment on Ms. Fortune and the redhead sitting like they wanted to meld into one person, besides raising an eyebrow at his fellow thief. This was him being social. He could have ferreted away his food and gone off somewhere.

And now that Ace mentioned it, Therion did sort of remember him. He chewed through the apple slice he'd been eating then spoke up for the first time that morning. "You were in Twilight Town with us, right? Got split up when the cats attacked us?"

Ace blinked as if noticing Therion for the first time. His eyes flickered over the thief's light armor and then he gave the guy a nod. "Yup. It was a real pain in the Astalos at first, but we figured it out. And you're..."

"Therion," he reminded the hunter, going back to picking at his platter of fruit and eggs.

"Oh, right. I didn't remember mew being part felyne," Ace said, now putting a face to the opinion Nadia had let him in on. He got a shrug in response - looks completely changing just happened in this world after all.

After chomping into a prickle pear and wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, Nadia jumped back into the conversation with a nod. “Oh yeah, he got kitted out while we were workin’ through those caves. Got into some purr-etty serious fights, but our fightin’ styles worked well together. And now we’re thick as thieves, huh?” That said, she didn’t want to push her luck too far. Despite Roland’s cheerful enablement, she knew that neither Geralt nor Therion shared her sense of humor. Her jokes were meant to lighten things up, so if they wound up annoying, the feral had missed the mark. Still…it wasn’t her fault that the puns came so naturally!

Thankfully Therion already considered her if not a friend, then at least a close comrade, so it would take a little more than mildly obnoxious wordplay to set him off. As for her latest pun though, Therion pressed his tongue to the top of his mouth to stop even a ghost of a laugh from escaping, though his lips did twitch upward slightly. He then rolled his eyes at her, not in annoyance but rather as a way of saying alright, I'll give you that one.

As she bit off half a sausage, Nadia glanced over at a neighboring table. It seemed like Juri was making a scene already, first waving around a hefty gun, then picking on the kids, and the sight of it made the catgirl’s eyes narrow. But Juri wasn’t her problem anymore. If she overstepped, the people she underestimated could knock her on her ass; Nadia didn’t have to play sheriff. Seeing Junior did remind her of what her long ears overheard during the briefing, though. He’d hailed one of the babies -or BBs, as Sandalphon called them- as Peach, and while Nadia got only a brief glimpse, the resemblance was too great to ignore. According to the others, Peach had died, only to live again as Moebius P. After everything she and Nadia had been through so far, how could that be anything but a betrayal? It got her thinking, though. If Peach still lived as P, but Peach existed here as a baby, that meant that there could be two of the same person. The possibility of meeting herself out there was a scary thought, and it got her gears turning to such an extent that for a few moments, Nadia was actually pretty quiet.

Starting on his bacon and eggs, Roland noticed that they were all talking about their previous adventures. Being a newcomer Roland really only had stories of Midgar, but he did have a lot of fixer stories as well. Maybe he’d retell some of them. ”Well, you two didn’t really get to see Midgar. According to your friends that went there, it was in a really bad shape. But I thought it was pretty alright. The Ever Crisis was a problem though, and I didn’t think following a lead to try to get rid of it, and following Consul C would lead to all this though. Nor that it’d lead to Shinra and Armstrong dying. Wonder if they got that city back up and running in the past week.” Roland said, trying to join the conversation himself.

“Not sure about the city itself, but Karin and Sakura managed to get a pretty serious group of folk together at that Satisfactory, and get it up and running.” Geralt mentioned, thinking back to the few days he'd spent there. “Ended up heading down there with Yen, my wife, and we found Ciri. She was alright.” The relief Geralt felt was uncharacteristically evident on his face as he mentioned having found his daughter, though he didn't speak a word of it. “They've got a lot of work ahead of them, but those four have got a lot going for themselves, too.”

Hearing about Geralt’s family -not a common conversational subject- made Nadia smile. She could only imagine how it would feel to finally find the people she cared about most somewhere in this messed-up world, and know that despite everything, they were safe and sound.

”Well if they took my advice Binah should help get everything up and running quickly. She might be lazy, but she's efficient. Although If I remember right one of them was a bleeding heart and I think if they saw Binah fight they’d regret asking for her help… huh.” Roland said, remembering what he told them before he left the city. ”We can check in next time we’re flying over there.”

"I'd like that. It'd be good to get a chance to say hi," Ace said. He'd learned a little of what had happened in Midgar, but nowhere near the full story, so the names and terms went right over his head. Still, hearing that Geralt had reunited with his daughter was great news. It reminded him of another piece of news he should let the Witcher in on since he wasn't sure how much of what had happened in Edinburgh had been told to the others - if anything at all.

"By the way, you'll never guess who we ran into while we were stuck in the Highlands," he began, launching into an abridged version of the events surrounding Linkle's reappearance. Since Roland and Therion had never met the heroine and Nadia had heard it all last night, the short story was pretty much just for Geralt's benefit. Therion didn't tune out exactly, he absorbed the information like he did all mealtime gossip, but he also didn't question or add anything as the two hunters went over it. All the while he spoke, Ace gently pressed his leg against Nadia's under the table, intending on picking her brain afterward. At the moment he was just eager to connect with everyone now that he was back.

“No kidding.” Geralt hummed, pitching in with a bit of his own commentary throughout Ace's story. Not enough to distract, just enough to show that he was listening. Between Ace and Linkle, the story involved two people he'd grown to appreciate the company of here in the World of Light. He just hoped Linkle would be okay.

As she listened to the tale for the second time, Nadia pressed Ace right back. She’d been so tired last night -and so focused on the hunter himself- that not everything he told her sunk in, but now she could really connect the dots. Back in the sepulchral ruins beneath the Dead Zone library, exposed to the half-light of overcast day by the wild battle against Bloody Marie, she’d been terrifyingly close to becoming the Skullgirl herself. If she’d been even a little bit more tempted, it could have been her possessed by the Skull Heart and deported to the Frozen Highlands, and unlike this Linkle girl she was no hero. As much as she liked Ace, becoming the Skullgirl would not have been worth spending more time with him up there in Edinburgh. Just the thought of how close she came to her own ruination made Nadia shudder, though she focused on the remainder of her meal.

All too soon, the last bite disappeared with a loud crunch, its note of finality unmistakable. Around her, the noisy mess hall seemed a bit quieter than before. Breakfast was coming to an end, and the Seekers’ appointed hour in the Dead Zone was closing in. With a sigh, the feral rose to her feet. Her hand perched for a moment on Ace’s shoulder as her tail flicked back and forth. “Welp, that was eggcellent, but I’m full. Gonna go limber up. Maybe drop by the armory, see what’s there. Anyone else done?” she asked, offering to take their plates along with hers to the dropoff bin. It went unsaid that if Ace had business with her, he could join her on her trip.

Roland would’ve preferred a more flavorful display of food personally, but he finished his spiced breakfast soon after. He really had nothing to comment about this skull heart or anything as he had no idea what that was or the people involved and only listened while he ate. ”Take mine if you're offering. I’ll probably see what's in the armory as well. I could use more varied weapons.” Roland said, offering up his empty platter. A funny thing to say, considering he had the most weapons out of everyone here from his base kit.

Midna acquired a plate consisting of an odd onion omelet, some carrot sticks, and a Mint mango. Oh and also 3 plates of nothing but sausages. With these in (four) hand(s) she set about finding a spot to sit, her dark orange eyes scanning the room till she decided on touching base with a familiar fellow.

”Good morning Goldlewis, mind if I join you and…” Minda asked politely after she strode up to the table of the Secretary of Defense and his insectoid seating companion, trailing off in such a way as to invite the name the latter to be offered to her.

When choosing a table, the veteran had come equipped with not one but two plates. If the first platter, with its ample portions of diced, southwest-seasoned, skillet-fried oca oca spuds accompanied by chicken sausages, sliced prickle pears, and fresh cuberries might have implied a balanced breakfast, the second one piled high with oniony scrambled eggs shattered that illusion. It took a lot of food, and especially protein, to sustain a physique like his after all. That was why Midna’s arrival with twice as many meat-laden plates took him by surprise, but after remembering her many familiars, Goldlewis reasoned that the extra chow must be for them. At least, he hoped so…

“Howdy there missie, go right ahead,” he told her, answering on Grimm’s behalf as his senior. Midna’s question, though, made him realize something important about the unusual insect: that he’d never provided his name. Whenever he came up in hushed rumors along the narrow streets of Meridi-at-han, the tale-spinners agreed that the master of the Grimm Troupe must share its name. Maybe he was overthinking, but he couldn’t be so sure. Then again, following those whisperers’ example right in front of the bug might provoke a correction to clear the air once and for all. “This here’s Grimm. Ringleader of a travelin’ bug circus.”

The Troupe Master merely bowed his head in acknowledgement. ”A pleasure to make your acquaintance.” With all those limbs, after all, Midna wasn’t too far gone from a bug herself. Grimm tossed a sausage to the floated Grimmchild, then lifted one to his mouthless, masklike face. It split open along an invisible seam, scarlet fire shining from within like a furnace flame, and after Grimm flicked the morsel into the inferno his maw closed again, all but disappearing.

It was safe to say Midna was a touch taken aback by that, the princess blinking a few times as if trying to properly process what she had just seen, before attempting a smooth recovery.

”Neat trick. Can you teach me how to do that? Would make taking a drink in a quiet moment in a fight much easier” she said as she sat herself down (giving Goldlewis a nod of thanks as she did so) before setting down her plates and then removing said helmet that she had been wearing this whole time. Her armor was stored somewhere, but the corrupting artifact stayed with her the whole time, and in this case was set in her lap.

”Midna, princess of twilight. Nice to meet you too” she then introduced herself in turn, before also engaging in feeding sausages to minion (as Goldlewis had predicted) in this case via using fake magical limbs to offer them to a portal out of which wolf-ish and dragon-ish snouts snapped. She did not trust them to not wreck the plates, and it would simply be indigent for the royal serving things to drop their food on the floor.

Sectonia took a bit to grab her food, as while she could eat meat, she’d much rather prefer sweets and fruits. Thankfully with another fan of honey aboard the avenger and that person being one of the people who managed all the food stuffs, honey was in good supply. Fruits however were a bit trickier to grab, and sweets were pretty barren. She’d need to fix that… perhaps something in that village of candy could make infinite sweets if they went back there?

Looking for a table to eat at, she decided to join Midna, Grimm, and Goldlewis. More so because Grimm was a new bug with a bit of flair to him and her familiarity with Midna. Since she just floated, she floated over a part of the table. She only caught the tail end of their conversation, but it was clearly introductions. ”I’m Queen Sectonia. No relation to Midna, although we have similar views on statecraft.” Sectonia said. ”Although her view of aesthetics needs a bit of work.”

While Grimm made no reply to either Midna (whose question he did not understand) or to the newcomer, Sectonia’s remarkable size (especially compared to his own) left him momentarily blindsided. While he did not flinch away, the Grimmchild did seem afraid, and hid from the big, brightly-colored bug behind its father. Rather than reassure it, though, the Troupe Master stared at Sectonia a moment longer. His red-hot gaze saw something in her that he despised, antithetical to everything that made him who he was. When he realized that this aspect of Sectonia was merely borrowed and not her own, however, his intense look subsided, and Grimm turned to try and coax his child out with a sausage.

It took an extra couple minutes for Captain Falcon to show up in the common room with his breakfast in tow. Not because he wasn’t a morning person. Quite the opposite, in fact, as Cap had arisen a good couple of hours before anyone else on the ship did in order to do some morning workouts. No, the only reason he was a latecomer to the breakfast table was because he was very particular about his food, wanting it to be just right in a “you can’t rush perfection” kind of way.

As such, the bounty hunter brought a full tray with him. It contained two plates - one holding a beautifully crafted southwestern omelet with jalapenos and sausage topped with a strong smelling salsa, and the other a side dish of classic flaky biscuit topped with creamy white gravy - as well as two drinks, a cup of coffee - black - and a glass of milk. ”Nothing beats the classics.” He said aloud to nobody in particular, then sniffed the air a bit before shooting a look at Goldlewis, ”Is that oca oca spuds I smell, Mr. Secretary? Guess I’m not the only one around here with a taste for the spicy, eh?”

“Mm-hm.” Goldlewis nodded in approval at the racer’s hearty food choice. “Them oca-ocas ain’t exactly like potatoes, but I reckon they’re close enough. Close enough for government work, as they say.” The big man chuckled as he lifted up another forkful of scrambled eggs. “There’s no tellin’ when and where the Lost Numbers can get supplies, so we don’t got the luxury of bein’ picky. If ya like ‘em, enjoy ‘em while they last.” As he chewed, he narrowed his eyes at Falcon, studying him. “Lemme think…you were with us last week in Carnival Town, but if I’m rememberin’ right, you weren’t with the Under team, were ya?” He cracked a grin at the Captain that he shared with Grimm. “Seems like wherever we go, we end up findin’ new folks willin’ to go the distance. Today’s gonna be your first time doin’ what we really do. Stick close to me, an’ I’ll see y’all home safe.”

”Ah, no. I’d been racing in Carnival Town for a couple days when you all showed up. It was just a stroke of luck that Pit, Bowser, and Ganondorf were among you. Otherwise I probably wouldn’t have been brought in.” Cap said back to the veteran. After a couple bites from his omelet, the bounty hunter gulped some milk from his glass to settle the spice down a bit before taking a sip from his coffee mug. ”Mmm, word of the wise to anyone looking to try spicy dishes: drink milk instead of water. Water has a way of making the spice even worse, in fact.”

”Speaking of food stock, I'm aware of a few places to get quite a few supplies. Assuming the Lost Numbers don’t mind some manual labor. Such as a land made of candy.” Sectonia said, remembering a place she had visited before. With such a large ship able to move through the world at a decent pace, she’d prefer them to make a stop there. She had quite the dangerous sweet tooth, although she got the feeling none of the others really did.

”Land of candy?” Falcon repeated with a look of intrigue. ”Now that sounds like a mouthful of painful cavities waiting to happen.” He said with a hearty chuckle. ”What the stockpile really needs is some good tripe, preferably beef but any is good. Bound up in a thread, it makes a tasty delicacy that’ll boost your perseverance and resilience. You can even wrap it around some veggies or other forms of stuffing, like a dumpling. Good stuff!”

The prospect left Goldlewis dubious. “Candy? Tripe? We ain’t got time to make trips for junk food and delicacies.” He swept his arm around the Mess Hall. “Y’all can see how much chow it takes to feed an army, and the Lost Numbers ain’t even eaten yet. Every supply run’s gotta count.” After a moment, he shrugged and went for another forkful of eggs. “But, if ya do think of somethin’, run it by Sandalphon. I hear she’s workin’ to map out supply routes.”

”What can you do anyway…. Grimm?” Sectonia said, trying to recall the strange word she heard at the tail end of their introductions. ”I have magic that rivals the gods, for example.” Sectonia said, referring to her normal power, but now boosted by the guardian she absorbed. Something that Grimm could sense within her, but Sectonia wasn’t entirely sure of the connection between the two.

The Troupe Master finished incinerating another sausage before turning to look at Sectonia. ”How impressive!” He lifted up his cape so that the now-full Grimmchild could take shelter, then continued. ”I once led the Grimm Troupe, but now, I am but a humble fire-dancer,” he rasped. Now that the others had seen his mouth, they might find it strange that he didn’t need to open it to speak. ”If that ignites your interest, let us dance together sometime. Through twist and turn, frolick and footwork, all is revealed.”

”Ah, another dancer. Primrose might like you. She uses dancing as well in order to fight. Although ‘fire’ makes me think your dancing is less supportive and more destructive.” Sectonia didn’t comment too much on dancing with Grimm. She wasn’t a great dancer, she was more of a singer.

Another figure stepped through the open frame leading into the Mess hall, revealing them to be the scarred, grizzled soldier-type Falcon had brought aboard the night before. The man gave a cursory glance of everyone present, and it was obvious to the more seasoned of the members there that he was very much out of his element even if his stoic appearance tried to hide it. The man locked his eye to Falcon for a microsecond before he strode over to the open countertop and dished himself up a plate of eggs, sausage, toast and bacon before grabbing himself a styrofoam cup of straight black coffee. While the majority of other tables were unoccupied, Snake knew he’d have a chance to meet up with the other members of this outfit later. For now, he headed to the table with the only member he recognized. He’d been too late to see the others the night before and, clearly used to being to himself, seemed rather awkward as he strode up to the table with a curt nod toward the group- as if he were a highschool freshman trying to join a senior table. ”Mind if I join you?”

”We’ve got space if you don’t mind squeezing in” the princess replied, meaning that quite literally because they’d unintentionally ended up with the two largest seekers at one table.

Goldlewis himself seemed cognizant of this fact. “Sure thing partner, here.” Grabbing his plates, the unexpected self-conscious man tried to scooch over to give the newcomer more room. By now, Goldlewis could sort out the fresh-faced recruits (as much as this man defied that description) from the veterans, so he planned to extend Snake the same hospitality that he did Grimm. And the Witch, if he got a chance to make a better impression.

”You also joined up over our week hiding out?” Midna asked, slightly indicating to Grimm with a half nod, before also enquiring ”how are you finding our mess of an association?” with a toothy grin.

Snake nodded toward the man’s offer; taking heed to the princess’s words as he maneuvered to sit alongside the open space next to the larger man. It was an interesting outfit of people, to say the least. Though, he did have his own motley crew of crazy back home. Snake looked to Midna, dipping his head in a nod toward Falcon. “Courtesy of the Captain here. Were it not for him, I’d still be in that damn town I’m sure.” Snake said, taking a gentle sip of the steaming vantablack liquid from his cup. A quick hum emanated from the back of his throat as he addressed Midna’s follow up. “Interesting for sure. First impressions have been nice so far.” The people were welcoming, and the coffee was good. Not to mention, it was rather bizarre to enter the Mess without lingering glances of acknowledgement, stares of adulation, or quick salutes at his presence. Not that he’d come to expect or desire any from this group. His actions were his own, with respect being the one thing he sought to earn among this group of fighters. His next question came after a quick bite of sausage. “How long have you all been here?”

”No worst enemies on it then? Lucky” Midna replied, her eyes flicking over to Ganondorf, before actually answering the question with ”Just about two weeks or so? Seekers only started up, hmm, two days before that though? We were making heroic pace before we went to ground for a week in places like the silly sounding little seaside town you were in. Did it have some of Galeem’s favorite horrors tucked away in it?”

”Oh, come now.” Falcon said to the princess as he chewed a bite of his spicy omelet. ”Is carrying old grudges really the most productive thing to do? Besides, he seems like he has no idea who you are, so it sounds like this grudge of yours is a bit one-sided, no?” He paused long enough to take another drink of milk from his glass. ”Not that I condone any of his actions, of course. From what I heard about him from Zelda, yes, he is indeed a pretty bad egg. But so is Bowser and his family. As long as they’re all helping us out I don’t really see what the problem is.”

Before Snake could respond to Midna, Falcon beat him to it. Finishing off his sausage and eggs, he opted to listen to the two converse as he weighed the situation in his head. Tensions were definitely high around here, what with that catwoman and the punk girl having fought during that fight against Mabuchi in the theater, and now it was something between the princess and the massive red-armored figure. They’d have to sort it out among themselves, which Snake found himself grunting in the affirmative to Falcon’s reasoning. “Falcon’s right. Holding on to grudges makes the enemy’s job a lot easier.” Beyond that, seeing as the majority of those present were only here for two weeks, it would make sense that people who naturally held rivalries or were bitter adversaries would still be tense around each other since they were all forced to cooperate.

Midna simply rolled her eyes at this and replied that ”Don’t worry about it. I’ve resigned myself to tolerating his existence as long as he’s being useful to our shared cause” with the not so subtle implication that was about as long as her amnesty would last.

”Besides the’ ‘star warrior, or the ‘warrior of the land’ I really don’t have much in the way of enemies. At least ones from Dreamland. Here though, I’ve made quite a few but that just comes with the territory. That black hedgehog for one…” Sectonia said, remembering an older altercation with someone who managed to escape her wrath.

While the others spoke, Goldlewis had been mostly munching, but he could not say he liked where the conversation was headed .Ultimately, though, one’s thoughts and feelings didn’t matter to the campaign as a whole. Only the end result. “Ya don’t have to like him, or anyone,” the veteran affirmed. “But as long as we’re doin’ this thing, we’re comrades-in-arms. Y’all gotta have each other’s backs, whether we like it or not. Comprende?”

The declaration seemed to prompt another long look from Grimm at Sectonia. ”I understand,” he whispered after a moment. ”We have all taken the stage for a reason. Each one of us has a part to place, and if a single player misses a cue, it may very well be curtains.”

”Why are you looking at me like that? Captivated by my beauty?” Sectonia said, a bit unsure of Grimms intentions, putting up a front to mask her confusion. If she had to guess with him looking like the bugs from the Under, perhaps it was something related to the guardian of the area she absorbed but she wasn’t sure.

”As I said, I’ll see this through till we reach the epilogue, but in that it's him not me you’ll need to worry about. I’ve seen his story play out twice already, and the third’ll be just the same” Midna replied while playing tangentially into Grimm’s mannerism, before sighing and apologizing. Not about her attitude regarding Ganondorf, but instead specifically to Snake, saying ”Sorry, didn’t mean to make this all about me. We’ll try this again after we get back from the mission” before preparing to leave, having chomped through her meal while she’d been being lectured.

Venom Snake looked up at Midna, offering a reassuring smile that tugged at the corner of his right lip.“You didn’t, don’t sweat it.” He could only surmise that whatever Midna had been subjected to- or witnessed with what the enemy of hers did, left a scar not to be forgotten. He hoped his words were of some consolation, at least.

After Goldlewis drained the last of his milk-spiked coffee, he looked down to find his plate empty. “All out, huh? When did that happen?” he mumbled. Then, clearing his throat, the veteran rose. “Well, good talkin’ to ya. I got some stuff that needs takin’ care of before we get goin’. If we’re takin’ the Pelican, I reckon I’ll see y’all up in the hangar.” He glanced at the two newbies. “Aft side, second floor from the top, just past the armory. If ya reach the Bridge, ya gone too far.” The big man checked his watch. “...Fifty minutes and countin’, folks. Be there, or be square.” Goldlewis raised his eyebrows over his glasses as he gave his dramatic ultimatum, as if being square was something the others ought to dread. Then he headed off to make his preparations.

Looking around to the table and giving a curt nod, Snake stood up and excused himself to dispose of his tray and beverage. As he strode out of the Mess, his color gradually returned into his vision as he followed the big man’s directions. He really wasn’t sure who was in charge of this outfit- be it him or the angel. Perhaps it was a collaborative effort shared between the two. Stowing speculation to the best of his mind, Snake reached the briefing room and stepped inside; taking a look around the area as he moved to lean up against the wall to the front of the room.

Sectonia let out a tick of disappointment and disgust at the mention of the Dead Zone. ”A land of horrors made out of random masses of flesh. That place is ugly with no redeeming factors.” She said, not mentioning that's where she was found, a spot of beauty in an ocean of ugly.

”And those packs that are supposed to protect us?” Falcon brought up, having finished off his omelet and was now working on finishing his biscuit and gravy side dish. ”Using babies like that. It doesn’t sit right with me. Not one bit.” Finally he finished off his food and all that was left was a swallow or two of coffee in the mug that he reached for in order to down the rest of it. ”I don’t know if that’s a product of Galeem or someone else, but whoever came up with that system is one seriously sick person. Anyway, I’ll be in the training center ‘til mission time if anyone needs me. Good talking to everyone.” He said as he was now done and took his tray and plates to be washed before disappearing back into the Avenger’s facilities.

When she took her leave of the mess hall, Nadia jogged back toward her room to gather everything she might need for the upcoming equipment. On the way she wondered if she’d find Blazermate back where she left her, seeing as her roommate had opted to not go to breakfast even just for socialization, but when she slid the door open the feral found no sign of Blazermate within. With a shrug, she began to collect her things.

First she donned her belt, slipping it through the loops of her shorts before attaching her four pouches. Ever since she acquired them back in that classy Home of Tears leather shop, these enchanted (and deceptively roomy) storage spaces had been lifesavers. As far as she could tell, each one could store any one item no matter the size, and one still contained that magical lemonade pitcher that refilled itself after use. It did take a moment of reaching into and rummaging through the pouches to work out which one Free Lemonade happened to be in, of course, and once she found it she stowed it in the left back pouch. Into the front right pouch went her Bait Launcher. Between the lemonade and the launcher’s stock of raw steaks, the feral’s weapon stockpile happened to offer a lot of remarkably imperishable food and drink should she need it. “If only I could pocket a grill,” she said aloud with an amused smile. “Guess I missed my barbe-cue.” Into the left front pouch went her Ripened Heart, which she handled with the ginger reverence of a holy relic on account of how many times its healing saved her bacon, and the right back pouch got her wallet. Finally, she jammed her twin Athame daggers into the middle pouches on both sides. “Girl’s gotta accessorize.”

Nadia then threw on her sporty navy-blue jacket, followed by her rigging pack. For as much space as those mechanical arms could occupy once deployed, they somehow contrived to fold up into quite the manageable pack. Thanks to her fusions, the rigging from the shipgirl Massachusetts also contained the extra disposable blades that fit into those special hilts…what were they called, again? The one-eyed proprietor of Seam’s Pawn Seap in the Home of Tears referred to them by some long and complicated name, but they looked like giant box cutters, so that’s what Nadia called them. Nadia stashed the lightweight hilts themselves in her jacket’s inside pocket for quick and easy access. After that, she slipped on Havel’s Ring to lighten her equipment load, then pinned the Blue Dancer’s charm to her lapel opposite the silver fishbones that represented her gang. Now all her strikes would pack extra punch while she stayed light on her feet.

Feeling properly kitted out, Nadia took a deep breath and jogged back out of her room, pausing only to close it up. Next on her itinerary was the training center, just across from the cafeteria and down the hall. Inside, she did some quick stretches (in some cases stretching her muscles tissues well outside her body) then set her sights on the combat adjudicator. The Battle Royal Rumble yesterday proved that she could definitely still scrap, but after a week mostly spent fishing in the Blue Hole, the feral wanted to squeeze in some time to practice her combos. According to Sandalphon’s briefing the team’s first order of business today would be sneaking around nuclear ghosts, which they should not under any circumstances even attempt to fight, but it wasn’t like the feral could sit around doing nothing.

Once limbered up, Nadia got to work. First, she did what she knew best: fighting with her natural weapons. For all her extra equipment, her sharp claws and fierce kicks were what she relied on the most, so any time spent practicing would pay off. She worked the basics, starting off with simple strings but quickly moving on to extended combos. As a magical training dummy that could be combo’d, launched, and juggled without ever suffering permanent damage, the Combat Adjudicator was perfect for perfecting her execution, no matter how many times it took. It couldn’t react like a person would to her mixups or fall for her resets, but Nadia drilled those too. Instant overhead, empty jump low, double jump, air backdash for the double cross up…the feral might not hit anywhere near as hard as some other Seekers, but she had enough dirty tricks up her sleeve to make anyone’s head spin, and once a she got a combo started it was her job to keep up the heat until her foes were well and truly cooked.

After working through her natural abilities, Nadia got a bit more experimental and brought her new powers into the mix. Charge plus Battery had been a staple of her game plan ever since she gleaned them from Cat-5, but Battery’s critical hits caused too much blowback to not drop the combo. Charge by itself let her zip after a launched opponent to keep the party going, though, but the spacing was tough. Using Fluffy Soft to transform her arm or leg mid-combo offered a lot more potential; the withering slash of her tiger claws dished out extra hitstun and momentarily boosted damage taken. Smart usage of Fluffy Soft mid-combo could extend her beatdowns even farther, but it would take getting used to. That went double for her assists, neither of which were easy to incorporate into her combos. For one, the Harbor Water Demon was much too big to even summon in here. Rhodeia, meanwhile, would take some getting used to as a Striker. While fused with the Oceanid, Nadia had commanded her Hydro Mimicry herself, which offered more control at the expense of extra concentration. Now, Rhodeia’s Hydro Mimics were fire-and-forget, but Nadia had to issue commanders during their construction that could not be deviated from. Nadia’s combo practice, especially with Hydro Mimics (thanks in part to Rhodeia’s cooldown) ended up taking a long while, and before Nadia knew it, her time was nearly up. “Drat,” she muttered, wiping her brow. “Forgot about the Armory. Oh well…I’ve got more than I need already.” With that, she scampered off toward the Hangar.

Goldlewis, meanwhile, did not forget about the Armory. After breakfast he headed there first, not rushing too much on the way so as not to disturb his digestion. Upon arrival, he looked over the stockpiled weapons, curious as to what the Seekers and Lost Numbers had managed to amass. Unfortunately, he did not come away impressed. The miscellaneous items ran the gamut from fantasy to science fiction, including a handful of melee weapons, casting catalysts, accessories, attachments, power supplies, and guns. He even saw an unclaimed robotic drone. Some of it looked usable, but to his disappointment the shotgun had only five rounds in its magazine, with no sign of extra ammunition anywhere. The Deepcore assault rifle, meanwhile, was actually empty. If nothing else, he supposed that the Armory had a good variety. While his Skyfish minigun packed a lot of punch, its inclusion in his coffin’s Security Level system put a few conditions on its use. It would’ve been handy to have a traditional weapon that could be used anywhere, anytime, and by now he was pretty desensitized to Black Tech, anyway. After that, he inspected his other new weapons, the shotgauntlets. Their power and mobility would be a serious help in close quarters, assuming that the team ran into enemies other than BTs. To Goldlewis, that seemed inevitable; for today’s mission, reaching the Qliphoth was only half the battle.



Confident in his equipment, the veteran walked next door to the Hangar ahead of schedule. There he found the Pelican undergoing the final steps of its fueling and maintenance procedure, attended to by the engineers Shirogane and Lulubi. That surly pink nopon wasn’t the only one present, though, since Goldlewis quickly spotted Tora as well. The rotund little inventor seemed to be working with E. Gadd on a handful of last-minute test cases and adjustments for the Stable Field Emitter, and as always Poppi wasn’t far away. “Howdy there, Tora, Poppi,” Goldlewis greeted them, followed by a respectful nod to Gadd. “That thing ain’t gonna crap out on us, is it?”

“No way!” Tora protested, flapping his free wing dismissively. “Emitter just little…pernickety, meh! Needs lots of Tora attention, all day and night. It make Poppi jealous!” he grinned

Not used to being the one on the receiving end of some teasing, Poppi reached over and flicked her Masterpon on the head. “If Tora getting attached to emitter, maybe Tora should go down with friends and have all to himself.”

Wincing, Tora shook his head. “Poppiii, Tora just kidding!”

Goldlewis chuckled. “Y’know, I can’t help but wonder. Back in the Sandswept Sky, y’all were fightin’ alongside the others on the front lines. You were mighty fine fighters down in those Al Mamoon dungeons. You two really okay sittin’ on the sidelines after all that?”

“Well, that not case, meh.” Tora scratched his head. “Would like to help, but after Poppi got lost in Valley of Ruin, we also lose one-of-a-kind ether furnace that allow us to function as Blade and Driver. New Poppi body not bad, but very weak in comparison, and without ether channeling, Tora’s weapons not work.” The nopon shook his head sadly. “Meh, meh. So without ether, Tora and Poppi just liability.”

“That why we do all we can aboard Avenger to make sure rest of team have smooth sailing,” Poppi chimed in, patting Tora on the head.

Tora nodded, brightening up. “That right, meh! Next project is special camera, so friends can take pictures of cool-cool things and bring back for Tora and Poppi to see! That way, it like we right there with everypon!” He held up a round device with a camera lens for Goldlewis to see.

The veteran nodded, crossing his arms. “Sounds like a plan. Finish that doohickey up and I’ll take it with me next time. Knowin’ y’all have our backs means I can breathe easy down there.” He and the others continued to chat until the appointed time.

Sandalphon spent the bulk of her time much further down in the Avenger, in the Mysticenter. She sidled up to the spellcrafting station amidst a handful of elemental shrines, taking stock of the magical ingredients and resources available for use. While she had yet to obtain a magical firearm that could make use of the spell bullets made here, it would be prudent to be stocked up in case she did acquire the right weapon, and the spell bullets’ unique attributes also begged the question of whether or not they could be used other ways. Fire Bullets didn’t take much explanation, but when paired with Oil Bullets the results could be devastating. On the surface Poison Bullets might seem like a waste, but if she could use her research to establish a Disease Shrine, bullets could be made that would consume poison stacks to induce unique effects. Order Bullets interested her the most, as they could allegedly repair whatever they hit. The archangel ended up making a handful of Fire, Oil, Order, Freezing, Water, and Stasis Bullets (the latter of which, amusingly, only took ten stones apiece to craft) and carefully packed them away for future use, making sure not to exhaust any one type of resource.

The process took more time and effort than expected, so after finishing Sandalphon decided to head back up to the Hangar. On the way she triple-checked her weapons, starting with her gunstaff. Though unremarkable, it remained a dependable mainstay for mid-range combat and casting. Today she also wielded the Eye of Sol for deadly long-range firepower, but she’d elected to leave the Aether Lance from Skywave in the armory. Its lobbed projectiles, whether to harm or heal, were simply not as effective or practical as her other methods. There was no use holding onto any piece of equipment in the face of empirical fact. About the time she wrapped up her examination, she found herself accompanied by that red-eyed shade from the Forbidden Kingdom, Grimm. Though he walked and talked enough like a man to be more than a little creepy, this bug was practically inscrutable, his thoughts and actions a mystery. Sandalphon walked alongside him in silence, unable to get a read on him despite all her powers of perception. If Goldlewis vouched for him and the Witch, she was in no position to object, but a team lived and died by its ability to communicate. Hopefully his actions would speak louder than words.



As eight o’clock drew near, the Seekers amassed in the Hangar on the Avenger’s uppermost level, itself the second-tallest chamber after the spacious Engine Room. In front of them sat the Avenger’s dropshop, the stout and solid-looking Pelican, its rear ramp down to admit the team into its troop bay. While it featured only five seats alongside either wall, its floor space offered enough room for about ten more to stand. Goldlewis wouldn’t have a problem finding space, but squeezing Sectonia in might be a real challenge. Luckily, Sandalphon had thought ahead. “If there’s not enough space, the Avenger can perform one hellpod run over the landing site as the Pelican touches down to deliver four more. A hellpod can fit any one occupant, after all, which does disqualify anyone with a BB.” The archangel had donned her long white coat, worn properly rather than off-the-shoulder this time. “I myself will warp down to join you upon your arrival. We are approaching the designated departure point, so please climb aboard or descend to Deployment.”

One by one, the heroes marched past the equipment table, grabbing synthetic raincoats and personal shield packs. Since she was already wearing a pack, Nadia had to make a tough choice. She took off her rigging pack and set it down, followed by her boxcutter hilts. Naval warfare wasn’t a high likelihood in the Dead Zone anyway, but it looked like she’d be down her swords as well. Primrose, Edward, Goldlewis, and Roland carefully accepted a BB and its accompanying equipment from Deadman, while Ace had the honor of receiving the all-important Stable Field Emitter from Tora and E Gadd. Big Band, Dante, Cerberus and a few others were on hand to watch the Seekers go before they went about their own important tasks. Nadia trotted up the ramp and found herself a corner to ride in, while Goldlewis and the other BB carriers enjoyed some of the limited seats. Once everyone was aboard, the bay doors closed, and the floor began to rise. Overhead, the Avenger’s rear hatch slid open, revealing pale blue skies. After another moment, the Pelican was flying free, left in the dust by the mothership. Bound for the turbulent sea of murky clouds below, the aircraft began its descent.

Within a few moments, the Pelican reached the cloud layer. It began to shake and rattle right away, the sensation far more visceral than the gentle, mitigated sway of the Avenger, The passengers were jerked and jostled, many obliged to seize a handhold if they hadn’t already. After a moment, Sandalphon’s sigils glimmered into being beside the heads of those linked to her network, and her calm, steady voice filled the troop bay. “You’ve reached the clouds. Ever since the voidout, the atmosphere in this region has been polluted by chiralium. According to bridges, long-term exposure to chiralium can cause poor sleep, nightmares, depression, and suicidal thoughts. You will not be here long. It’s time to activate the Stable Field Emitter.”

At her command, the control module on the emitter’s shaft could be used to turn it on. It was a simple affair, with a dial that could only be turned when the safety button was held down. Once its dial was turned and locked in place, the emitter began to hum and glow. Its pylons began to spark like tesla coils, and a spherical bluish-white field expanded out from its core. The pulse washed across the Seekers, touched the bay walls, and faded, but the emitter remained online. Nadia shuddered as a dreadful feeling overcame her, caused by the suppression of the magical Life Gem that kept her alive. It wasn’t weak enough to be quashed completely, but she knew that her healing abilities would be much worse as long as she remained in range. She gave a nervous laugh. “I guess this is about as normal as I’ll ever be.”

The next moment, everyone heard the rain. It pounded their ship’s hull, so loud that the passengers could scarcely hear themselves think, let alone talk. Goldlewis wasn’t bothered either by the emitter or by the ride so far, but he noticed that Sandalphon’s sigil had faded, cutting her off from the rest of the Seekers. He also noticed that the emitter -or maybe just the tumultuous flight- seemed to be affecting Grimm rather severely. The Troupe Master, ferreted away among the compartments above the seats, lay like a wounded beast, his dimmed eyes wide open. “Hold out just a li’l longer, partner,” Goldlewis called up to him. “Won’t be long ‘til we’re back on solid ground.”

Luckily, Goldlewis was right. After about a minute, the Seekers felt the Pelican begin to decelerate. While it did not land, it continued to slow down until it hovered just above the ground, where the bay doors began to open. Ahead of them lay a barren, rocky landscape, its stone and soil so dark that they might as well be black, with nothing but fuzzy green moss in terms of vegetation. The rain was heavy and loud, so thick in the air that Goldlewis couldn’t even see the towering Qliphoth that lay about a mile dead ahead. Nor could he see any signs of living -or unliving- things, but he knew they were out there. He looked down at the BB strapped to his chest, questionably safe in his bright orange pod as he peered out at the scenery, eyes wide. Thanks to Baby Luigi there, he would be one of the privileged few to lay eyes on the BTs himself. He, Primrose, Roland, and Edward would be taking point in this operation, which was more than a little terrifying even to a veteran soldier like himself.

Goldlewis pulled up the hood on his raincoat, not caring if his pompadour got mussed for once. Protection from the timefall was more important. Unlike some of these whipper-snappers, he didn’t have an abundance of years that this rain could wash away. If he could help it, Goldlewis wasn’t going to lose a single hour.

Though normally the type to sprint headfirst into danger, Nadia pawsed at the bottom of the ramp. Ears flattened beneath her hood, she glanced at the Stable Field Emitter, then up at the sky. “So, uh, how do we know it’s workin’, again?”

Grimm still seemed a little sickly, but his eyes were as sharp as ever. ”Look.”

He pointed with a sharp black claw, and when the others followed his gaze, they spotted something remarkable. Beyond a certain distance from the Stable Field Emitter (about twenty-five feet), the rain was causing something to happen when it hit the ground. Green sprouts, flowerbuds, and blades of grass shot up from the earth, grew to full maturity, spawned, withered, and died, all within seconds. When Ace descended the ramp, emitter in hand, the zone that defied this anomaly moved with him. The hairs on the back of Nadia’s neck rose, but she put on a brave face and pushed forward. After the last person stepped off the ramp, the Pelican -now on a timer without the Stable Field Emitter to keep it safe- rocketed away, and as it retreated Sandalphon warped in. Her hood was up, and she held her gunstaff in hand, more for use as a walking stick right now than a weapon. She nodded at the Seekers. “Let us begin.”

The terrain left behind by the bombed Dead Zone was treacherous, a bowl-shaped expanse of stony rubble left slick by the constant deluge. Rivers of rainwater carved furrows down the downward slope with unexpected force, forking and diverting at random. Forget about the BTs–just maintaining one’s footing around here would be a challenge. But the Seekers could not just forget about the BTs. There were strange noises in the rain. Within a minute of setting off, something spooked the BBs, and through their synergistic link their carriers shuddered as chills ran down their spines, and the odradek devices on their shoulders turned on. Once raised into position, the odradeks deployed their five sensory fingers and began to scan for danger, chirping whenever their linked BBs clued them into a new source of otherworldly matter. If they begin to click their fingers rapidly, focused on a particular point in space, a BT is within thirty feet. And if one’s odradek locks up like flower petals and begins to spin, emitting a high-pitched mechanical whine, a BT is close enough to hear one’s breathing.

After hurriedly finishing his cooling meal that he’d left unattended in the name of jotting down as much info as he could, Edward had three things he needed to do.

First, he headed back to his room and equipped his armor and weapons, despite the fact that neither magelock was going to be of much use in the magic suppression field that would be keeping them safe.

With his sword flattened in the train crash after he had dropped and failed to retrieve it in time, that left him potentially entirely unarmed in the magic suppressor, something his second task would hopefully rectify. That task was a quick jaunt to the spirit chamber, within which he donned the absurd hat that supposedly would improve his odds of a good item.

He had, after using his striker to heal himself, mixed feelings about if his odds had actually been improved or if the harmful headgear was merely perceived as doing so.

More data would be required.



The results were, well, interesting. Partially because he wasn’t sure what everything did. What was a feather going to do to help? Was it a quill for writing? It certainly looked like it. But then when he picked it up he felt a subtle effect taking over him once again, so perahpse not.

Properly assessing things would, it seemed, be relying on him waiting for Midna, but there were at least a few things that he could feel/see the value of right away.

The first was the Pendant. He could already feel how it would add to his store of PP when holding it, which meant one more deflected de-buff which he wasn’t going to complain about. So around his neck it went.

The second was to replace the Heavenswing Shield with the Enchanted buckler. The latter might have been heavier, but it left his hand free, which would make using a shield alongside two handed weapons such as his rifle still doable if a bit cumbersome. Not that he was going to use the rifle during the initial magic draining section of the fight, but still.

The old shield went into the crucible, permanently adding the minor boost to him, which was odd to think about, but most certainly useful. He could only imagine how absurd tossing dozens of pendants into it could get, assuming he could acquire them.

As for everything else, well, it looked like he had a very strange replacement for his lost sword in the form of the war scythe (one that certainly did not fit the scabbard he had well at all which was going to be a problem) and then beyond it there was a whole load of. Well. Very strange things was perhaps the best way to describe it. Flimsy masks, an odd quiver, and some sort of golden rings styled after halos.

Oh and a massive musical instrument. That last was very much what made his subsequent trip to the armory quite a bit of a pain, though at least the quiver helped out, attached to his belt and stuffed with odds and ends as it was.

He dearly missed both his horse’s saddle bags and his empire’s enchanted armory in that moment… which spurred on an idea.

Hopefully his arrival carrying a load of dubiously useful gubins wasn’t about to get in the way of him making an arrangement with whoever was operating the armory.

There was only one way to find out, and that was to carefully shave open the entrance to it with a shoulder, and then to say ”Good morning, I am here to inspect… to view the armory, and to make an addition or two” to the person he found waiting on the other side, while trying to angle his neck so he could see past the Sousaphone.

Sagi, the Avenger's quartermaster, received him with a polite smile. With all of the Seekers back on board, alongside a few new additions having come to and fro from the ship's stockpile, she was busier than ever that day. This man was yet another new face, but she welcomed him - and his donations - all the same.

"Good morning. Feel free to look around. Just let me know if you take something. Oh, but first, what have you got for us?"

Edward carefully deposited the pile of debatable quality loot on a convenient sorting counter, and felt like he needed to justify the musical instrument taking up most of the space, saying ”One of the kinds of false angels in skyworld used these to fire beam spells of some kind” but having no such explanation of the mask.

The quartermaster said not a word at first, just cataloging everything Edward placed down with both her eyes and her hands, her pen rapidly flowing over the clipboard she held in her hand. She didn’t seem disappointed in any of the items, even the ones that seemed useless at first glance, but she did crack an amused smile when the man started trying to explain some of them.

“I see. No need to explain yourself - if you have no use for these, we’ll find one. Even if I have to meld some items into entirely new ones, none will go to waste.”

”Melding? I am aware of a process to break down magical items into essence that can be forged into new ones, is it something similar?” he asked the quartermaster as he watched her work, looking on with approval of her efficacy and skill.

"Indeed it is," she responded, surprised but pleased that he already seemed familiar with the concept. "I use a technique called Wyverian Melding to break items down into their base properties, not necessarily magic essence, but they can then be combined into a talisman. Unfortunately there is no real way to predict or influence what properties the created talisman possesses afterward, but they're certainly more useful than a handful of items collecting dust."

”Ah, more ‘gambling’ with fate. Fascinating” Edward said, both intrigued and maybe a little disconcerted regarding how much was being left up to random chance when it came to their armaments. Then again, was it any different from gambling that the ruined wizard tower or other ancient wonder you where raiding would contain useful magical equipment instead of yet another kettle helm with a minor armor enchantment? He supposed not.

His words seemed to further amuse Sagi, and she murmured, “Isn’t every day alive a gamble with fate?” as she continued jotting things down.

After dropping things off, Edward took a look through what they already had, and came to a similar conclusion to Goldlewis, which was that it really was something of a dumping ground of various odds and ends. Now some did seem powerful to the right user, but for every specialist axe, there was an icicle, vial of blood or ”Is that a necklace of children’s teeth?!”.

Still, it did have one thing that the Drednaught found useful, and that was a very unusual pistol that apparently fired energy bolts via entirely non magical means. Its clunky size and rather grotesque adornment of fleshy trophies were rather major downsides however. It made for tolerable temporary replacement for his magelock pistol, at the very least. Though frankly between it and the war scythe, he would not like to get into any actual combat while they were magically suppressed, and so would be focusing on his job just as he said he would.

”We really do need to sort out the logistics of this place. Some of these weapons don’t even have ammo” he said, not as a complaint but as a statement of intent.

Sagi looked up from her notes, this time regarding Edward with a raised eyebrow.

“I realize you must have only recently been destoried, but do you know how many different kinds of ballistic weapons there are in this world? How many different kinds of ammunition they use? If you have a supply request, by all means let me know, but I thank you not to question my methods. We’re all working with what we’ve got,” she said. She didn’t seem upset, but she did speak more slowly as though that would get her words through to Edward better.

”and I shall endeavor to improve what you have to work with as best I can” the Dreadnought replied smoothly, attempting to smooth over the way he had misspoken rather than directly apologies for his ignorance, before segueing into a way he might be able to assist: ”Speaking of, there is another reason I am here which may make your life just a bit more hectic I can imagine, but it should be of some value to operations”

As he did this, he pulled out a smaller, lesser tome of magic, flipping through the pages, and then setting it down on the bench, revealing an arcane ritual detailed as a set of schematics, which he proceeded to explain.

”If you allow me to set this up, it will be able to provide remote armory access to anyone anywhere in the world who has been properly aligned to our faction via a simple binding spell. They will then be able to summon objects from the armory, which will prompt them to be teleported to them post haste” he explained the upside, before getting to the slight downside which was ”Unfortunately, while they can send things back, the process is a touch more involved. I can invest suitable power here, you see, to power the transfer near instantly, but on field operations will gather that power more slowly and so the returning ritual will take several seconds to complete. Still very useful, you might agree, but not so for rapid equipment swapping like Princess Midna performs unfortunately”


Though the silver haired woman read through the ritual notes with some interest, as she listened to Edward’s explanation her expression gradually flattened into a frown.

“This sounds like it could easily lead to an organizational nightmare,” she said. She didn’t mind people coming in and taking what they needed while leaving what they didn’t - that was what the armory and stockpile was there for after all. But she was able to easily keep track of everything when she was present and speaking with said people. If she let Edward perform his magic, then anyone could take anything at any time. However, she did understand the major benefits of such a ritual. It took a few moments as Sagi thought it over, then she turned to face Edward, holding her clipboard to her chest.

“I may allow it… though I do have some questions first. When items are transported back here, can you specify where they end up? It won’t do to have them randomly dropped around the room. And can the ritual be reversed or blocked? Either on the whole or an individual basis? On that note, can people be transported? You never know if someone will turn coat, become possessed, lose their mind to someone else’s whims, fall back into Galeem’s hold…” she went on to list a number of unfortunate things that could befall anyone that would be granted access to the armory, and therefore access to the Avenger - and endangering the ship was something she would not tolerate even if the pros of ritual access outweighed the cons.

Very good at her job, Edward concluded, before going down the list, specifically by flicking the tomes pages and finding additional lists of additional information: ”Naturally the spell involves designating arrival areas for received items, which comes with an arcane control circles to vet what is being received. Notably the control circles can be accessed anywhere in the ritual space, or with some additional work they can be bound to an object for remote access beyond the confines of the designated chambers. This allows for the creation of secured, sealed, chambers to be used to contain any hypothetical cursed artifacts, primed explosives or the like”

”The same controle circles can be used to approve the addition of, or remove access from, any individuals from the armory access spells, which need to be passed on from one access holder to the next. Preventing enthralled, converted, or hostile reanimated heroes was very much a known concern” he explained. Looting the enemy armory was more or less the first thing any fledgling warlord thought of upon capturing one of their foe’s champions after all, so measures had to be taken to prevent such things. As for shutting it down entirely, well, he was entirely aware that he was a potential weak link, and so explained that ”The magic will also be bound here, specifically, so if you need to destroy it due to myself being compromised, you will very much be able to do so”

As for the limitations of what could be transported, he was very insistent that it should include ”No people. Living minds do not take kindly to the process, and while a being intended to be used as steeds could be prepared to endure the exposure to the astral sea, performing such a process would damage the capacity for autonomy. There is another ritual that can be used to that, but the infrastructure for that is far more intensive”

Sagi committed all of the answers to mind, and to paper as she copied some of the information in the man's tome down. With these contingencies built into the ritual, Edward's proposal was a lot more palatable for the Avenger's quartermaster. After she was finished writing her notes, Sagi tapped her pen against the writing surface a few times as she considered the matter. Ultimately this would be helpful, she decided, and told Edward the good news.

"Alright, I'm satisfied. I'll get an arrival area set up properly... hm, let's put it over here," she said, leading him over to a spot she deemed would be good for it.

”Excellent, then let us begin”
The rituals were both surprisingly complex and yet also straightforward. No great expenditures of magic or gratuitous scribbling of magic symbols all over. Instead the man simply went to the four corners of the room, traced a rhythmic gesture in the air that quickly vanished in each, before returning to the center and making a clean and simple statement: ”I claim this place, in the name of the commonwealth. Let all who serve its glorious name lay claim to the contents, such that they may build a brighter future for all”
There was no great flash or explosion of sound, no sudden magic bond held by all. Instead the man simply held out a hand to Sagi, a circle forming in it, and it was then that she felt a connection offered.
”Now you simply, copy me and-” the executed the same simple ritual to call up the screen again, ”-there you have it”

---

The Dreadnaught exited out of the armory and out into the vehicle bay where he expected to find some people waiting to set off, having gotten their affairs in order. While that might have been the case, what stood out was a woman who had apparently decided here was the place she would be getting her affairs in order, namely Princess Minda, who was doing her best to repair a giant bipedal canine skeleton, as well as its buckled armor.

He was fairly certain that the hulking undead had fallen from a great height and shattered its lower legs in the process, something he’d seen more than one over eager shocktrooper do to themselves in an attempt to get a (literal) drop on their enemy.

”I was unaware you were also a necromancer” he commented with forced casualness, not exactly the greatest fan of such sorceries. While hypothetically usable for good, an undead was functionally an automaton after all, they tended not to be due to how many dark paths to power it held, tempting the practitioner into doing vile deeds in the name of whatever goal they had.

”I dabble” the princess replied with a wiggle of one hand as she used the other three to carefully stuck shards of bone back in place ”But this is my only undead right now, and also my most durable summon, so try not to get to upset about it. You won’t find me toying around with skull and bone much otherwise”

She then glanced up at him, took one look at the mismatched weapon combo he’d acquired (not to mention how it barely fit on his person due to both being so awkwardly shaped and sized compared to what they were replacing) and gave a snort of a laugh.

”That’s the best you could do to replace your magic guns? Hang on let me see if I have stuff stashed away that will work for you” before she looped up and away, presumably seeing her own personal armory through some magic means.

”That would be appreciated-” Edward began to reply, but Midna already had found what she thought he needed.

She produced a Machete and Pistol and ‘Viral Rifle’ for him, more or less perfectly finding replacements for the equipment he wasn’t going to be able to use in the magic suppression field. Suspiciously perfectly, in his opinion.

”Made a lot of use of these?” he asked as she handed him the equipment.

”Haven't touched the sword and pistol, and the rifles, eh, not had much luck hitting stuff with those. Also I really don‘t like how you can shoot either healing or harming shots from it, it's- just begging for shooting the wrong person with the wrong thing” a light pause in her words making him very worried she might have in fact done that already

”That. Yes. The entire design goes against a basic firearm safety principle” the Dreadnought agreed, and then was quietly horrified when she had no idea what he was talking about.

”Remind me to give you some pointers on that, but, for one, do not ever point a gun at something you don’t want to destroy. For right now, I’ll have to politely decline the offer of this weapon. I would need to acquire straps for it anyhow” he decided, before inquiring ”Do you have more firearms?” more to assess just how much of a risk this amateur in firearms was going to present rather than seeking a replacement.

”A fair few. Plus a few other blades if you want more options, though they are all weird. I never get a straight forward sword or scimitar for some reason.” she replied, missing his intention thankfully, which confirmed his suspicions that she was holding on to a lot of items for herself, which prompted him to ask ”Have you considered donating some to the armory?”

”A few, but we’re basically never here, and I tend to break or throw or lose the less important ones so having spares is always good” she replied casually, apparently not at all concerned about the casual attrition of the Seeker’s supplies of equipment.

”If its having replacements on hand while on campaign that is your worry, I have just made an improvement to the armory that should let you stop-” he paused and chose his words carefully ”-needing to hold on to so much redundant weaponry”

”Uh uh? Hoarding you mean? Fine, show me” she replied, cutting right through his attempt at tact this time. Rather than beleaguer the point, in instead simply did so, linking her to the system and showing her how it worked. ”Slower to use than my portals, so I’m still going to hold on to some spares, but I suppose I can toss a few more things in there”

‘A few’ turned out to be exactly what she offered, adding a pistol, rifle, pair of grenades and a bizarre gun-sword hybrid to the armory (which were sent back (a whole half dozen meters) along with the plasma pistol and war scythe she had admittedly just replaced for him). Edward would have pushed her for more, assuming correctly that the woman was holding onto a fair amount out of self interest, but that topic was derailed when she summoned two bizarre mechanical contraptions which were, apparently, called motorbikes.

”Think these’ll go work with your summoning magic? They’re like mechanical horses in a sense, though much much faster” she explained, which at least answered the question he’d had in the back of his mind as to what this machine’s sibling (that belonged to Juri apparently) currently sitting in the vehicle bay was.

”The Amory can be used to summon steeds so… hmmm… Well, we might as well see how well the formulas adapt to adding these ‘vehicles’ to the equation” he pondered, before setting out to apply the same ritual he had to the armory to the vehicle bay as well. It helped that they were right next to each other, adding a bunch of intervening corridors would have been quite the mess.

”Looks like its worked” Midna confirmed as she checked the menu and found the newly added room’s content showing up the list, before adding that ”bet the Captain is going to be happy about this, I have no idea how we were going to get any use out of that thing without it being my responsibility” she jerked a thumb towards the Blue Falcon.

”Excellent.” the Dreadnought declared, dusting off his hands, before saying that ”In that case all that remains is to wait for everyone to arrive, so I can make a quick announcement/induction into the system before we set off”

”You can help me put some bones together till then, then. Actually, with that striker of yours, I can probably skip waiting for Blazermate once I’ve put all the pieces back in pace” she told him, simply (and correctly) assuming he’d help.

---

”Before we set off, I’d like to take a moment to inform you that I have augmented the Armory and Vehicle Bay with a summoning and sending enchantment that will give us remote access to them” Edward stepped in to inform everyone on the heels of the information regarding how they’d be getting down there. He followed this up by offering to link everyone up, giving a quick tutorial on how to use the system, and the quirks of it, and then giving his reason for why he thought this would be relevant which was: ”I’d recommend depositing anything that might not work due to magic suppression, or indeed items that will slow us down, behind. They can then simply be remotely retrieved once we enter the tree and disable the magic suppressor”

He also had one more addition to their base equipment, thanks to Midna doing some assessing of the gear he had received from his spirits, which the princess had taken possession of keeping track of: ”we’ve also acquired an item called a ‘Giant's Canopy’ which we believe will be able to block the rain entirely for 30 seconds, so if there comes a moment where we need all our magic, that will be an option to temporarily replace the suppression field”

After that, it was time to pick up equipment, which prompted a slight issue caused by his new wings. Not only did the raincoat need some dramatic altering (via cutting holes in the back) but the personal shield pack was meant for the back too, and so ended up awkwardly strapped to his waist. It had to share space with a BB as well, resulting in quite a busy setup to say the least.

That would have been fine, he was used to carrying his own gear as much for self reliance as to connect with the troops while on campaign, but everything seemed much more precious with a baby strapped to his chest.

”Well then. Hello Mario” he said awkwardly to the infant that had been identified by the short turtle person, receiving a wave from baby Mario in response. Which was not at all disconcerting.

It must have shown on his face, because an armored up and tree spear carrying Midna agreed with his unvoiced sentiment that was ”Yeah, this does not feel right does it”

”No, no it does not” he concurred, before saying that ”I hope putting children in the line of fire this is not normal for this organization” which received the beginning of a shake of the head before she had to concede that ”Well I mean there is Bowser Junior” which resulted in a whispered argument/discussion that took them most of the flight to the dead zone.

Once there, both of them focused on the task at hand, having at least agreed that Minda was going to be the backup BB carrier should anything happen to him, prompting her to stick close to him for the duration of the mission.

With regard to said mission, Edward had thoughts about the way they should proceed with it:

”We should adopt a consistent policy as to how to warn people about the presence of these BTs. I propose we use the tree as a set landmark, and then use angles from it to point out threats, rather than attempting to use gestures or references to terrain or personal location” he recommended, as he moved to the front of the group, in order to give a demonstration of his reference method.

”For example, if I were to say say ‘90 degrees right, 40 meters’ then I’d be identifying a location that would be 40 meters to my right if I was facing the tree, irregardless of my actual facing at that moment” he gestured with an arm to additionally denote the example location.

”If we do this, it should let us better chart a path rather than simply denoting which ones are closest as these devices to” he added, referring to the odradek attached to the BB container.

”As for movement, I recommend a staggered advance. Two carriers on each side. One keeps watch, the other moves forwards in tandem to the field moving forwards. Then we all stop and let those look outs catch up, before repeating the process”

With his statement delivered, only time would tell if it got picked up, and he turned his focus from any resulting discussion to keeping watch. That was his main task after all. A task made all the harder by the constant rain slicking his ad-hockley modified coat, and sodding through his wings, rendering them more or less just a burden rather than a help to navigating the slick terrain, other than maybe adjusting his balance.

In contrast Minda, who moved up beside him, was going to have less of a problem. Clawed mechanical boots offered good grip despite being heels, her tail helped with balance, and the spear she was carrying was being used as a walking stick much like Sandalphon was using her gunstaff. Still she looked a bit unsteady despite this, the women seeming to have less grip than she should on the slick surfaces.

”Something I got ages ago made everything more slippery, and the field’s messing with the way I’ve been compensating” she explained (the latter presumably referring to the purple claws on her feet who’s purple hue had dulled since they entered the field) when he asked about it, before insisting ”But I’ll still watch my step and yours, and you focus on tracking BTs and keeping mario safe”

”Appreciated” he replied, before returning his eyes to the horizon, surveying the terrain for foes.

Unlike many of the others, Sectonia didn't head to the armory. Instead she made sure she was proper before she went to the landing pad. Being easily the biggest member of the group here, Sectonia wasn't able to fit into the normal drop ship everyone else was in. Not for a lack of her not wanting to fit, which granted, she wasn't really interested in being in such a tight spot with so many people, but she just couldn't physically fit.

So unlike everyone else, she had to land on the ground from a different drop pod, the hellpod that was all for herself. Even so, it was a pretty snug fit. Clearly stuff on the avenger wasn't really made for someone her size in most regards. Still, she had a way to get down to the others. Although unlike many of the others, she couldn't wear one of the shield pads that'd protect them from the aging rain. She did have her own shield however, so she could apply that to herself just in case, although it'd mean she couldn't project her chaos shield on anyone else if they were in trouble in that case.

Once she was with everyone on the ground, she spent her time as one of the close guards to the emitter. More so because it gave her more space to move around, and because flying was a bit more difficult with this thing around making her pretty slow in the air. Out of everyone, she was one of the ones most affected by this generator, although unknown to her the powers of the guardians he absorbed wouldn't be hampered by this emitters field. Plus, at least being in the center of everyone, her beneficial auras, of what little she had, could affect everyone so there was that.

---

Blazermate skipped breakfast, not needing to eat, and instead spent some time perusing the armory. She didn't have much she could give herself, as she often didn't carry things. But as she looked through her bags, she found two items that she could put in there. A single pokeball she hadn't used, and a taser thing called the Short Circuit. Although for the latter, she had already expended its ammo so she wasn't sure how useful that'd be. She looked around at everything else, and while the shield was cool, it was pretty quick she couldn't use anything here. With a sigh, she left.

Once she was done, she left the armory as her friends who were interested in their own kind of weapons in there and waited patiently at the drop ship with those who didn't take a dip in the armory. She was ready for whatever was to come, although she wasn't too happy about having to go back to the Dead Zone. That being said, perhaps the guardian wouldn't be a super bulky thing and be something super cool? She did get her shield form there after all.

In an attempt to save space for the drop ship, there being way more people than should realistically fit inside it, Blazermate elected to sit on someone's lap to save seating space. Roland being one of the skinnier members, made the most sense and he seemed to be ok with it. At first Blazermate wondered if he was one of those Medabot super fans, the scary ones, but it was clear he wasn't comfortable with the situation. Well, that was good at least, although a bit disappointing. Still, Blazermate tried to not move too much to make things better until they landed.

Once they landed, Blazermate found that some of her things worked fine, but anything gained from spirits wasn't feeling so well. Still, she could still heal and that was the important part! Although she'd have to walk to as her jets made too much noise, but soon she'd realize even her footsteps were really loud with her metal clanking. Well, relatively loud she concluded, but not as loud as say, Bowsers would've been. Seeing this, she decided to try to catch a ride with one of the larger members of the group like she tried for Bowser. Sectonia had the size, but she didn't look like the riding type. Goldweis was also big, but would he be ok carrying her on his back? "Since this is gotta be stealth, any of you guys wanna carry me around so my footsteps don't echo everywhere?"

---

Much like he suggested, Roland paid a visit to the Armory. Looking through all the stuff that had been gathered recently, he was a bit surprised at just how weird some of the weapons here were. At least most of them seemed to have some kind of description on what they did. Although he could use most of these, he decided to just take one for now that seemed useful. If they had to fight any flesh abominations like that one book, this ice javilin would be really useful against it.



With his item gathered, he gave everyone else in the armory an affirmative nod before heading off to get geared. Being one of the BB holders, he'd have to stay alert for these 'BTs' that they were all talking about. hopefully they wouldn't be too much of a problem. Although he did offer to carry one, the fact that they were going into an area with time rain that aged things super fast still didn't sit well with him. Hopefully that generator and the personal shields didn't run into problems and worked....

In an attempt to try to squeeze more people in, Blazermate ended up sitting in Rolands lap. For a robot she was surprisingly light, although having solid metal sit on you still wasn't all that comfortable. The robot seemed to be trying not to make it awkward, and thankfully the ride was pretty short with only the largest members left behind needing their own drop pods. Once everyone landed and debarked, Roland didn't really feel the same penalty that the likes of Grimm and Nadia were feeling from the dampening field that kept them all safe from the dangerous time rain around them, the effects Roland could see firsthand outside of the bubble much to his horror.

"Alright, try to stay quiet, I'll inform everyone if my 'device' here detects anything." Roland said, affirming he'd be a team player in this.

---

Juri pulled up the hood of her raincoat, the one that would be able to withstand the ravages of timefall much more than her flesh. From what she understood she didn’t have long anyway. But if she was going to die within the decade she might as well die young and beautiful and not haggard and gray.

Juri had spent some time working her stealth, getting as close as she could to various people on the ship without them noticing. Including swapping and swiping a few personal effects, just for fun. It didn’t seem like her fighting was going to help much anyway. Juri didn’t like the idea of this mission. If any one of her idiot teammates screwed up, they were all toast. And some of these people were real fat bastards, or made out of metal. Juri would batter them away from the BTs if she had too. And she doubted corpse dust would trigger a voidout.

Once down there, the emitter field turned on, and Juri’s natural intelligence plus the expertise of her infusion made her feel like she understood the machine quite well. With just a flick of her wrist she could turn it off and blow the whole mission wide open. Not that she would, but…she liked having power like that. Notably it was anti-magic, which drew Juri’s eyes to Fortune. ”Oh, but, you don’t have to worry, Fortune. You. Can’t. Die. Right?” She teased.

Some guy named Edward started explaining his grand plan, and Juri made a slack jawed ‘idiot’ face. ”Or I can just use my eyes and ears and see where the odradeks are pointed. Doy.” Juri said. ”If anything we should just move like a big square with a carrier on each corner.” But that last addition was half-hearted. Really she just wasn’t going to rely on some callout system she thought was weird.

Blazermate asked to be carried, which made Juri scoff. ”Don’t look at me.”

”Nobody better screw this up. Just stay low and slow, it’s that easy. Even a baby could do it.” Juri said.

The Seekers were an eclectic sort, Edelgard had decided by the end of her breakfast. It made sense, given that they were from worlds unlike her own. And, it seemed, unlike one another in many ways. Some seemed to be more like herself, like those wearing armor and carrying swords and bows. Others wore strange clothing, or wielded very strange weapons. The oddest to her, however, were the creatures that spoke like humans. One vaguely resembled the golems of Fodlan, though she knew better than to make the comparison aloud. Others resembled mutated animals, though again she would not dare say such unkind things to them. These were merely the limited points of reference from which she could draw.

Geralt, meanwhile, had a weight lifted from his shoulders due to Ace’s good news. Knowing that the Hunter and Linkle were alive, along with the bonus news about a Guardian, its weakness, andthe defeat of a Consul (even if she was left alive, the ego check might have been better than letting the others make a new Consul L) was a massive boon, both to his own morale, and the Seekers’ cause. He was hardly skipping around giggling, but his face was a little looser, his gait a little quicker. His first stop was at the armory, where he deposited his beam sword, Monsoon’s sai, and the steel diver torpedo launcher (with the 7 remaining missiles).

From there, he went to the hangar to meditate, finding a spot in the corner to calm his mind and prepare for the upcoming mission. It would test their abilities, their resolve, and their stomachs.

Zenkichi’s own pre-battle prep consisted of a quick trip to visit Akane and make sure she was alright before the deployment. He kept details to a minimum, but mentioned that they were going after a Guardian, and that if everything went according to plan, there wouldn’t be much of a fight before they made it to the Guardian itself. Akane, of course, rolled her eyes. “And now that you’ve said that, things aren’t going to go according to plan. Jeeze, dad, have you never watched a movie?” Sharing a laugh and a hug that neither wanted to let go of first, Zenkichi gave his daughter a pat on the head and made his way to the hanger.

Before he did, he was reminded of Lizzie, whose Spirit would probably be fading if he didn’t deal with it now. In the hallway of the Avenger, he crushed the Spirit of the Rampaging crocodilian, blinking a few times at what he received.



”Wha…? Oh, that’s just wrong.” It was a crocodile skin stretched over a ring, with what looked like a belt. Was it some kind of back shield? He didn’t feel like lugging that around, but he remembered that there was something in the Spirit Chamber that would let you fuse an item into you and gain its benefits, so he took a jog down to the Spirit Chamber. While there, he remembered that vest he got as well and quickly slipped it off. Shoving it in there, Zenkichi felt the effect of the vest transfer to him, letting out a small gasp. ”Oh, wow. Feel tougher already.” Squeezing the Danger Shield in after the melter had recharged, he felt…cooler? Not cooler, more like…he could handle warmth a little better? He’d have to figure that out later. His business in the Spirit Chamber concluded, Zenkichi headed up to the hangar.

Edelgard made it there before the Phantom Thief, and approached one of the Seekers she’d not become acquainted with, yet. He was knelt on the ground, his eyes closed, and his breathing was so steady that she could not see his chest move. Even so, as she stopped before him, one eye opened, cat-like vertical pupils regarding her with a mixture of curiosity and mild annoyance. Edelgard started at the unexpected sight, and though her reaction was minor, it was not unnoticed.

Geralt opened his other eye, the heavily-armored woman before him at least polite enough not to ask what was wrong with his eyes. He stood from his meditative position, now looking down at the Flame Emperor, his tone even. “Yes?”

Edelgard’s eyes tracked Geralt as he stood, the Emperor used to everybody being taller than her. This man was about Hubert’s height, if not taller, and she had to take a step back to avoid craning her neck painfully to look him in the eye. ”I apologize for interrupting your rest, but I wished to introduce myself before the next deployment. I am Edelgard von Hresvelg…I was once Emperor of the Adrestian Empire, but here I suppose we are all Seekers of Light.” Geralt’s brow furrowed. She must have been recently freed of Galeem’s influence to still be this lost.

“Geralt of Rivia. And yes, here we are all simply Seekers. Emperor, mutant, turtle…thing…we are all equal.” He spoke flatly, some disinterest evident, but then he hummed softly. “I was a Witcher. A man turned mutant, given an extended lifespan and abilities beyond that of a normal human to hunt monsters.” He figured it was only polite to give his own history, about as abridged as hers.

”Well met, Sir Geralt.” Edelgard replied, sure to address a knight properly. ”It is…certainly very different from Fodlan here. Creatures and creations unlike any I have seen…though Those Who Slither in the Dark had some weapons that I would not be terribly surprised to find, if flying ships the size of a village that can become unseen are commonplace.” Some part of her was clearly overwhelmed by everything, but Geralt thought she was handling it well enough.

“Hmm. At least you had an idea such a thing was possible. When Ciri told me of a world where people waged war from a distance, had metal in their heads, and all had flying ships…I thought she was joking.” A tiny smile appeared on his face for a moment, before he continued. “Must’ve been one of the many places that got dragged here. Wonder if it wound up in Midgar. One of the cities we visited recently. Defeated their Guardian.” He clarified.

”Truthfully, it is a small comfort.” Edelgard admitted. ”If they exist here, in this world, then nobody is safe. Ever.” Edelgard’s tone was grim, and final. ”They possessed javelins which could destroy cities, fired from beyond the horizon. I visited the ruins after the war ended…it was pure destruction. Of a like I have never witnessed before or since. Edelgard’s voice wavered, but she steeled herself before Geralt took the wind out of her sails with a pair of sentences.

“The Dead Zone will be the same. It was destroyed a little over a week ago in an explosion that created a second sun, albeit for only a short while.” His voice was calm, and even, despite the horrific news he relayed. “And the creatures inside are what caused it. The BTs. The fate that befell that city awaits us all if we are caught.”

Edelgard nearly recoiled, though she managed to maintain her calm enough to merely close her eyes tightly and look down. ”I…see. I hope it is less miserable than the Valley of Torment, at least. We believed the same thing happened there in ancient times. It tore the earth asunder, and left it aflame eternally, even into my time. At least here, it still rains.” Geralt half-laughed, half-scoffed at that, shaking his head.

“The rain kills you.” He rolled his eyes.

”And what a sentence to walk in on. Jeeze, and I thought I was the high-strung one. Zenkichi laughed, nodding to Geralt and Edelgard, before bowing slightly to the latter. ”Don’t believe we’ve met before. Zenkichi Hasegawa.”

”Edelgard von Hresvelg. Sir Geralt and I were just speaking about our worlds, and about the devastation of the Dead Zone. I am remorseful to say that it is not something that I am unfamiliar with, though the means were certainly different in my world.” Edelgard gave Zenkichi a short bow to mirror his own, though the man was looking at Geralt with an eyebrow raised.

”Sir Geralt, huh? Should I address you by your full title from now?” He laughed again, shaking his head before turning serious. ”But…I know what you mean. In my world, another country dropped two bombs on major cities in my country. That was the only time anybody used them in war. It’s been about…sixty-five or so years since that happened? Over two hundred thousand people were killed by the bombs and the lingering diseases caused by the fallout. This place, the Dead Zone, it’s like…a step back into a nightmare for Japanese people.” Both Geralt and Edelgard were quiet, but Geralt was the first to recover.

“More than two hundred thousand people…somehow, I doubt they were all soldiers.”

Zenkichi shook his head slowly, slumping a little. ”Technically, the cities were producing materiel for the military, but…most of those people, and I mean most, were civilians.”

“Fuck.” Geralt hissed, while Edelgard’s teeth clenched. She was reminded of Rhea and Thales. How their selfish machinations left thousands, tens of thousands, dead. She thought of herself, of the thousands dead for her war. Clenching her fists, she shook her head to dispel that treacherous line of thought. She was notlike Seiros or Thales. She destroyed the Church of Seiros and Those Who Slither in the Dark.

”But yeah, this place…it’s bad, but as long as we’re careful, it’s not gonna get worse. Don’t get grabbed, and if you do…hopefully we have a chance to get you out of it.” Wishful thinking, Geralt mused, but he had no idea how these things worked either. It felt off that simply by touching a person they could cause such devastation, but otherwise…did nothing. There was probably more to it after the grabbing.

”I’m afraid if it comes to running or subterfuge, I am…unsuitable for much of either. My armor, as effective as it may be at protecting me, is rather heavy.” Both Geralt and Zenkichi thought the same thing: That’s an understatement.

Their chat turned to their respective ability sets, each person not looking forward to the suppression field for their own reasons, and soon enough it was time to board the Pelican and take off. Edelgard elected to stand, owing to the bulk of her armor, while Geralt and Zenkichi took seats near the back of the ship. They were far from the smallest members of the team, so they tried to avoid taking up too much space.

The ride to the Dead Zone was quick, and Edelgard could scarcely believe how quickly they’d traveled. Geralt was getting used to the kind of technology this world had to offer, and Zenkichi haad enough time spent in Midgar to not really be surprised by this kinda stuff anymore.

Once they disembarked, the three spread out to join different groups. Edelgard kept close to Edward, one of the BB carriers, Geralt kept near Ace, the bearer of the all-important Field generator, while Zenkichi predictably gravitated towards Sandalphon. The former and the latter paid quiet attention to their surroundings as the others spoke, while Geralt gritted his teeth at Juri’s typical attitude. ”Does she ever tire of hearing her own voice?” Edelgard whispered to Edward, rolling her eyes before continuing aloud. ”Though I fear she makes a point about verbal commands and the risk of alerting the creatures to our locations. A slow, measured approach would allow us to respond to any alerts from the others before we’ve moved too far.”

Regardless of the plan they chose, Geralt and Zenkichi were in their element. While Public Affairs was hardly spying, walking light on your feet and keeping your presence concealed was helpful in eavesdropping on potentially illicit conversations while doing fieldwork. Being a Witcher meant tracking, and tracking meant watching every footfall for twigs, rocks, leaves, any singular thing that could give you away.

No, it was Edelgard, used to forced marches, to the glory of pitched combat, to the manicured halls of the palace, who was in trouble. Each step was carefully measured and found wanting. Between the rain, the uneven terrain, and the weight of her armor, every step had her halfway up to her ankle in mud, a quiet slorp sound heralding her foot coming free, only for a plop to warn everybody around her that her other fit was now encased in mud. Damnable…armor!” She snarled as quietly as she could, before sighing. Should she have remained aboard the Avenger? Her combat prowess would be worthless if they were all slaughtered in a voidout before even reaching the Qliphoth.

Alas, it was not meant to be, and as a loose rock shifted under Edelgard’s foot, her balance faltered, and she stumbled forward. Her armor carried her forward and down, and she fell into a muddy puddle with a loud splash. Instantly her blood froze in her veins as the sound of Edward’s Odradek scanning picked up into a manic whirl.

Then came the handprint. One at first, as she pushed herself into a crouch, mud covering her jacket and armor. Then a second and a third as she stood, faster, then four, five, six, seven, converging on her position.

Edelgard held her breath, standing fully and taking a slow step backwards, her foot coming free of the mud with a soft sound. It came down onto wet rock, but that was enough for her. Edelgard’s other foot came free of the mud as the handprints, each throwing tar into the air, grew closer.

Zenkichi could only watch in horror. Edelgard continued to backpedal, beginning to circle away from the straight line the BT was chasing her in, but suddenly, a rock landed in the mud where Edelgard had fallen a moment earlier. Geralt, near the center of the field, had plenty of freedom to maneuver and find something to distract its attention. The handsteps began to increase in speed, this time back towards the muddy puddle, before slowing and circling around where the rock had landed.

The Witcher gave a strained smile and a thumbs up in Edelgard’s direction, receiving a relieved smile in return.

Now, if only somebody could get that egg off Edelgard’s face. Her ears burned, and she was sure Juri had thoughts about what had just happened.

For Roxas, the battle prep was pretty much nonexistent. He wasn’t carrying any excess items, and his weapons were either built into his wardrobe or in the Keyblades’ case, summonable. But he paid a quick visit to the Armory out of curiosity. It certainly had an eclectic collection of things, not all of which were weapons or armor as the name of the facility suggested. But he did spy the Mana Potions and decided to take five of them, leaving the rest behind in case someone else needed them. Roxas had been getting himself into an increasing number of situations where he found himself out of MP and unable to do much while waiting for it to recharge, so he hoped these potions would help him better mitigate that problem a bit.



Actually, he was also tempted to leave his Pokemon behind for this mission as well. The Dead Zone was a far more dangerous place than any he’d been to so far and he wasn’t sure he liked the idea of risking Scamp and the others falling prey to the timefall or something else. But in the end he decided to keep them with him, resolving not to call them out of their Poke Balls unless he absolutely needed to or it was safe.

Captain Falcon, meanwhile, had similarly decided to skip out on visiting the Armory. Weapons and armor just weren’t his thing, and he was confident his fists could still get the job done regardless of the Stable Field Emitter - which he planned to volunteer to help guard. So instead Falcon had spent most of his prep-time doing warm up moves in the training center. He wanted to start getting a better feel for the martial arts moves he was learning from Robert Garcia’s spirit, especially now that he knew some of those moves weren’t going to be as strong as they normally were. So he figured some extra practice and mastery of them would help him make up the difference.



That left Ganondorf, who did in fact pay a short visit to The Armory. His initial purpose there was to ensure that the bottled spirits he’d sent up over the past week had been stored as instructed. Once he confirmed that this was the case, he decided to also give the rest of the Armory a quick perusal on the off-chance there was something he could make use of. The headband with the horns attached to it seemed like it could be amusing, but the warlord had no interest in wearing such a silly thing. Maybe at a later time he might consider fusing the item with himself but for now, he chose to leave it.

There was also the matter of the Spirit he obtained from defeating the Bandit King, Twinblade. Ganondorf had mulled it over in his head what he wanted to do with it and eventually settled on itemizing it. Which he did by crushing it.



Getting a greatsword came as no shock to him. When the sword itself appeared to possess a degree of holiness to it, however, that did surprise him. A bit odd a weapon like this to be the product of a bandit’s spirit, but he wasn’t going to question it. He decided to store one of his Gerudo blades and carry the new weapon in its place. A bit asymmetrical, but nothing he couldn’t handle easily enough.

The ride on the Pelican was certainly… something. To say it felt cramped would be an understatement. Roxas found himself squeezed in-between Pit and Jr. Meanwhile, Falcon had volunteered to remain standing for the duration of the ride in order to help save on sitting room. And Ganondorf…? Well, he was seated rather uncomfortably in a spot that was beside the wall in order to prevent him having to be squeezed against too many other people. Not the most fun ride in the world.

Once everyone was on the ground, Cap was quick to volunteer himself for guard duty for the Emitter. And surprisingly, so was Ganondorf. ”Wait, you’re volunteering for guard duty?” Falcon asked him teasingly, ”And here I thought something like that was beneath you, Ganondorf.”

Ganondorf wasn’t nearly as amused. ”If I can’t conquer this cursed place by force, then there is no reason for me to charge ahead in the front. It’s as simple as that.” The Captain merely shrugged in response.

As for Roxas, he was among those closer to the front of the group. He wasn’t carrying a BB or one of the personal shields, he wanted to be near those in the most direct danger in case maybe he could help them with a Curaga spell or some other form of healing should it be needed. Plus, even under the effects of the Emitter, his Flow Motion still gave him an edge at keeping his footing compared to most of the others.

Following breakfast the Seekers went into their final preparations. Most swung by their quarters and the armory, including the Ace Cadet. He'd intended to accompany Nadia, but after popping back into the line for a little extra food to quickly scarf down (which coincidentally Therion did too, though he tucked the fruits into his bag instead of eat them immediately) he found they'd ended up going opposite directions. He swung back by the stockpile first before heading to the living area.

Although he trusted that the field emitter would work, it was always better to be safe than sorry. He'd learned that way too many times in the past. So in order to take the shieldpack alone with him, his deceptively spacious square backpack would have to stay behind. That also meant that he wouldn't be able to take along any excess weaponry, something he'd been kind of taking for granted for a while.

Choosing which to bring with him turned out to be harder than he initially thought it would be. Since he would be holding the field emitter, the greatbow would be impossible to use until they got to the Qliphoth - which meant it would just be taking up space compared to, say, the Master Bang whose blade could be wielded in one hand. Even the breechshot he'd spent some time tinkering with would be a better choice, as he'd be able to steady it against his shoulder and hold the emitter at the same time while firing, if need be. So while leaving the bow behind was a quick decision, his other options proved to take a lot more thought - especially since he'd only recently swapped out the trusty Nightsky Ripper for another beautiful long sword he'd discovered in the Avenger's armory. It even had what looked like slots for jewels and other augmentations. Though he'd love to use it right away, it had the same issue as the bow.

"What to pick..." he murmured to himself, the options laid out in front of him on his bunk. He wanted to get to the hangar soon so there would be enough time for a crash course in how the emitter worked if it was needed, so he couldn't spend too much longer deciding.

Unsurprisingly, other Seekers were much quicker with their arrangements. Having already offloaded a lot of his spare items and equipment, Therion didn't have much inventory to reorganize prior to the mission. He did leave behind his simple shortsword (with his smaller, more compact weaponry he figured he wouldn't need it, especially since he could now summon a wraith blade), but otherwise everything he usually kept on him could easily stay even with the extra protective backpack they'd all be taking. The weapon laid next to two bottled spirits that he wasn't sure would even still be there when he got back, the wrestler he'd fought and the monster Primrose had, whose spirit she'd given him to hang onto. Therion did seriously considered taking that big umbrella along but ultimately the rain would not be harmful, just very unpleasant, which he could deal with.

...well, so long as these experimental devices actually worked it wouldn't be harmful. Here's hoping, he thought, making his way to the hangar where most of the Seekers would deploy from.

With no preparation to be done, Therion was one of the earlier people to arrive. It gave him a little extra time to fiddle with the equipment he was taking, that being only the bubble pack and raincoat. The latter he wrapped around himself tightly, letting his ears lay flat under the hood and tucking his tail up inside. The pack he slid on over top of it.

Another early arrival was Pit, who had pretty much went right from the mess hall to the hangar. Everything that the angel relied on he could summon at will and he'd just finished fighting through a mini-war before this, so he didn't have anything else to do but wait and mentally prepare. At the time that Therion was suiting up in the raincoat, Pit was wrestling with one himself.

Unlike the other winged Seekers that could use their wings to actually fly, since Pit couldn't use his third pair of limbs for that there wasn't a need to cut a space for them out. Not that he would want to in the first place. Having seen the timefall firsthand and how fast it worked to age whatever it touched, he planned to keep his wings under as many layers of protection as possible. That emitter was one, the shield pack (which it looked like he was sort of right about being similar to the bubble-like shield he thought it would be) was another, and the final portion would be the coat that he was currently struggling to properly fit his wings under now that they were larger than before. Thankfully the solution was easy enough - just swap to a slightly bigger coat. Though a little oversized everywhere else, the extra synthetic fabric made it much more comfortable to close his wings inside of and still strap the shieldpack on so that it laid in the space on his back between each feathered appendage.

Primrose entered soon afterward, having left her ice lance behind. The devout beads she'd picked up were swirling in a slow circle at her back, unimpeded by the coat and shieldpack she slipped on. For this mission she would focus solely on support - looking after the BB she'd be carrying, keeping watch for the BTs on behalf of the larger group, and helping them out with her dancing when she could. Of course she still had her magic if needed in a pinch, and the rosary as an easy back up.

As she was outfitted with the device designed to the hold the BB, Primrose listened intently to the explanation of how it worked. The sensor would deploy automatically, and so long as the BBs themselves were kept safe the whole thing would function autonomously... the carriers would just have to pay attention to how the sensor, and the BBs, reacted to the environment. It seemed simple enough to her ears, but whether that was the case in action she'd soon find out. The dancer glanced down at the BB, and the little Peach looked up at her at the same time. That big crown in the pod on top of the baby's head made her look a bit comical, and Primrose smiled despite the gravity of the mission they'd be taking on.

"I'll make sure you're alright," she told the BB quietly. She had hardly known Peach, only meeting her briefly a few times before they'd ended up in different areas of the world, but she clearly meant a lot to some of the Seekers. This Peach wasn't the same person really, but even if their survival didn't hinge on the BBs looking after her was the least Primrose could do. "Ready to go?"

Baby Peach smiled around her pacifier, curling her little hands into fists and nodding.

After deciding on his load out, the Ace Cadet appeared in the hangar as well. In the end he couldn't resist bringing along the new sword, so it sat on his back over the raincoat where it would wait to be used until they arrived at the location of the Dead Zone's guardian, the smooth amber gem called Fervent Fang fit into one of the grooves on the blade. The hunter's rigging was present now, extending out from his waist beneath where the shieldpack would rest. They were too useful to leave behind - part firearm, part sword, and with their size they could even function as makeshift shields. Probably. He hadn't tried that yet. He also had the makeshift bowgun, along with what ammo he'd been able to make with his alchemy barrel after dumping a lot of his extra little items into it. The thought had popped into his head that the increased grip of the leg armor he'd picked up in Edinburgh might help with a rain soaked environment, so he'd changed that out as well.

He was about as ready as he could be, and though it looked like there wouldn't be time to talk with Nadia beforehand there would be plenty of it after they got back. While Tora, Poppi, and E. Gadd worked on last minute fine-tuning of the emitter, the Cadet went over to greet them. They gave him a run down on how to turn the device on and off, a much more simple affair than expected. He did question them a little about any quick fixes he could do in case the field failed at any point, but otherwise he left them to focus on the task at hand. At least until they deemed it ready and pressed the pole into his hands.

They piled into the Pelican then, only a couple Seekers opting (or needing) to take a hellpod. The ride was a bumpy one, but it wasn't too bad until Sandalphon checked in with them. Her listing of side-effects made Therion raise an eyebrow as he muttered sarcastically under his breath about the 'good news.' In the grand scheme of things he wasn't that learned, but if the chiralium was atmospheric wouldn't it get to them on the ground too? Or was the machine that the Ace Cadet held supposed to protect them from that too?

Speaking of Ace, he glanced down and flipped the emitter on when instructed, which was when the ride got even rougher. He didn't feel any different whatsoever once the emitter was on, but it was easy to see that a lot of other people had felt some kind of change. That poor Neopteron was completely laid out. And though initially a little confused about Nadia's comment, the black and pink suited woman's afterward (which he now knew must be the infamous Juri) quickly connected the dots for him.

She's...? In hindsight, it made total sense that the power that let her split herself up and heal from pretty much any injury must have had some kind of supernatural basis. He's just never really thought about it. So that meant the field emitter would weaken that same ability? Since the feral seemed nervous, she obviously thought that was the case.

"You'll be fine," he assured her, his firm voice hopefully counteracting Juri's ominous words.

When the Pelican completed its descent, everyone shuffled off to wait for the pods to drop from up above. Now that they were actually here there was no turning back now. The Seekers gathered briefly, getting a good example of the emitter actually working while they prepared to move out. At that point Ace found himself, or more accurately the emitter he was carrying, surrounded by the group's toughest guys, which kind of amused him. At the very least if something happened to him, he could pass the field emitter off to one of them.

Following Edward's suggestion of how to move about, Primrose gestured for Goldlewis or Roland to move up ahead so that she could keep a position in the rear. Whether they went with Edward's plan or Juri's spontaneous one didn't matter to her much, so long as she could effectively do her job.

She did end up drifting a little to one side as though to form the square, but before everyone spread out too much within the field she made a suggestion of her own. "If it comes down to us needing to run, a few of us can speed everyone up," she said, nodding toward Zenkichi whom she knew also had a speed amplifying ability. "Or if we get our footing and just want to move faster, let me know. My dancing won't be as... potent, in this field, but if it can help to get us to our destination sooner..."

She left the offer on the table. She could see that more than a few of their group was suffering from the magic-dampening, those whose very existence very likely hinged on their magic or other such power. Of course she was far from the only one that could see that. At the center of the group, the Ace Cadet had opened his mouth to reject that suggestion off the bat. But he hesitated, seeing the state that some of his comrades were in. The Qliphoth wasn't that far away, but ultimately their pace would be set by him - and if he decided to drag things out for his own comfort it would just cause unnecessary stress for everyone else.

"...sure. Let's see how things go first, but the sooner the better, right?" he said, his grip on the field emitter tightening.

Though Therion agreed with the sentiment, he had to point out, "too fast and we'll run right into something though."

They'd definitely need to get a handle on the terrain and their equipment before even considering picking their pace up. For now, when the Seekers moved they did it slowly. And tried to follow Juri and Roland's questionably helpful advice.

"How quiet do you think we actually have to be?" Pit asked, his voice sitting somewhere between a whisper and his regular speaking voice. The rain itself was pretty loud after all, and it didn't seem like anything had been drawn in by the noise of the Pelican. Maybe the Goddess of Light knew more, or could remotely view the Seekers and help point out any BTs if she could see them.

Lady Palutena, have you heard of anything like these BT things before? Any extra tips?

...

...? Um. Lady Palutena?

...orry, Pit. ...nnection is pretty bad ri... now.

Pit hadn't once considered that the emitter would affect Palutena's divine powers, so he paused in shock. Sure he'd gone most of the whole time since being un-Galeemified without her guidance, but he still would much prefer to have it than not. He skipped ahead a bit, checking in if the divine cell service was better in certain spots versus others - and then repeating the process.

As he moved up, Primrose quietly called out any action the oradeck picked up on just in case. So far so good, at least at the very start. With Pit's connection to Skyworld still spotty he kept flitting around to find a spot within the field that would better let him talk with his goddess, eventually his boot catching on a slick piece of stone. Far from the storied guard captain some of the Seekers had seen in the previous days, Pit slipped with a bit off sound of surprise - though before he hit the ground Therion caught the angel by the scruff. The thief roughly set Pit back onto his feet, and Pit gave him a sheepishly grateful look in return.

Not everyone was fortunate enough to avoid a dip in the mud. When Edelgard went down the whole group stopped and waited with bated breath, prepared to jump to her aid even against the deadly, unseen enemy. Thankfully it didn't come to that, as Geralt's quick thinking lured it away. When they all moved on, it was even more cautious than before. That thing, assuming it had been a BT, had made nary a sound, and the hand prints it left behind were difficult to spot in the rain and shifting mud... so if nothing else, the misstep was a good demonstration of why the BBs actually were needed for anyone that had been doubting them.

Plates and cutlery were not set neatly away as the kids and the Witch bailed on the mess hall and headed for the Armory. Most of Jr’s minions accompanied them, with Peeka the flutter mane floating along above them, and Mimi the mimikyu sat on his shoulder (Dazzle would only slow them down and so was stored in his ball). As a result it was the stubby legged koopa prince doing the slowing, or more accurately occasionally scampering to keep up with the two taller humanoids. Well, only somewhat taller in Rika’s case, she’d lost a fair bit of height thanks to one of her fusions.

As they walked, Rika tried to engage in some light conversation ”Soooo, um, oh! What is it you do that not having magic won’t let you do?”

“Can’t you tell? I’m a Witch.” Even in other worlds, where science had grown dominant, people must have heard the age-old tale of the wicked sorceress. Beware the woman who becomes too wise, who becomes too strange. If she grows powerful beyond her station, it may be that she consorts with unholy powers. A false accusation more often than not, but in her case it was quite an apt description.

“What the uneducated call magic, I call thaumaturgy. And with it, I can do just about anything I please.” Burn things, freeze things, zap things with electricity—what more could a young lady need? “If what they’re saying about this place is true, though, I’ll have to get creative. Weapons never really were my strong suit, but I suppose I’ll try anything once.” This Rika seemed to know where she was going, and so the Witch stuck by her, though not without a curious glance at some of the Seeker’s more mismatched and exotic features. Was she part machine, or was all that mess around her hips just part of the elaborate outfit?

”Oh? No, I couldn't tell” Rika replied without a hint of embarrassment or shame at this ignorance ”I’ve never met a witch before, or got told what those are. I don’t think they had any at sea. Or the Abyssal Fleet didn’t care enough to distinguish between different kinds of magic - or, uh, ‘thaumaturgy’ - users. Probably that one. They didn’t teach their cannon fodder much at all”

”Couldn't tell either. You don’t have the hat” Jr poked his head into their conversation to add, before clarifying to his confused sister that the hat in questions hat he was referencing ”Pointy, wide brim, like that one Kamek’s got but black usually”

”Oh” Rika replied, before saying ”I don’t think there were any more pointy hats, but there was an ice-y wand of some kind? For after the magic suppress-y stuff is done“ to the Witch in another attempt to be helpful.

“Hmm.” The Witch looked idly thoughtful. “I used to wear a lot of hats. Helmets, circlets, crowns… Perhaps I ought to dress up more, now that I’m in such high company.” Whether or not she meant that part seriously was hard to tell. She sounded a little sarcastic, but then she nearly always did with that flat tone of hers.

All the same, Arika’s mention of a potential treasure drew immediate and obvious interest from the young sorceress. “A wand? There’s little I’d like more. If I lend you a hand, would you give it to me?” They’d probably give her a gun just to help with the upcoming trials, but a powerful magical object would be another story. The Witch understood how relationships worked: you gave someone a thing they wanted, and they’d give you something in return. So what do you want, lost sailor girl?

“Your Abyssal Fleet? Are they still afloat?” Her look was one of pity, but it was hard not to see the mocking twist to it. “They didn’t value you very well, did they? Or else you’d never have deserted them.” She leaned in eerily close, lowering her voice as she did. “Help me gather treasures, and grow powerful, and I’ll sink them all for you. You can even listen to their screams while I do it.”

Rika leaned back just a little, more confused than unnerved by this sinister closeness, and then of all things was apologetic when she said ”Oh. Thanks? But they’re mostly gone. Some of the others sank their leaders and the rest are mostly lost without them” before adding ”I… Probably should have done something about that, helped them or something, but didn’t really know what… so I just… didn’t” with little in the way of disguising the emotion in her voice, a mix of embarrassment, failure and genuinely feeling lost.

Then she shook her head and the feelings were put away as she tried to pivot away, only to run right back aground and dredge them up another set of raw hurt ”Um. Anyway. Wand’s in the armory so it's more or less free for anyone to take. But I can keep an eye out for magic-y stuff if that helps you help take down Galeem if you want? You don’t need to make it scream or anything, I just don’t want to go back to the fleet when I die”

”You're not going to die” Jr insisted from behind them, but Rika seemed more or less resigned to the fact that ”I mean I will. Eventually. Something'll get me and then Galeem’d bring a me who isn’t me back as part of the fleet and I’ll never be the me I am now ever again. And I hate that”

How disappointing. The Witch would have loved to try and ruin that fleet herself, all the more if there’d been a juicy reward waiting for her at the end. Now it seemed like she’d get her prize without a fight, and as convenient as that was, it just didn’t feel as satisfying.

Perhaps she’d perk up again once she had a chance to kill something with it? Her eyes drifted off into space for a moment, seemingly no longer focused on Rika—only to suddenly swing back when the conversation turned in an interesting direction. Death? The Witch knew plenty about that. It wasn’t a topic she often got to talk about in polite company, but this girl had gone and brought it up all by herself.

And the sorceress, like a shadow, was at her side again. “Life is fleeting. Everything dies, and we’d be fools to pretend otherwise.” A pointed glance at Junior accompanied that last part, before her almost doting attention returned itself to Rika. “It’s not death that you fear, though. Only what comes after. A you who isn’t you, your soul twisted back into a shape you’d thought long abandoned. Poor, poor thing!” She might have grinned at the end there, and even felt sorely tempted to do so. Just this once, though, she exercised restraint.

“But you shouldn’t go along quietly. I wouldn’t.” People feared and reviled necromancers, but for what? Perhaps it was only their terror of death itself, spilling over onto all those who danced with it. “Who’s to say a soul can’t stick around after dying? I’ve seen it done. Some of the dead even chose to enter my service.” She raised an eyebrow, and extended one pale hand towards the girl. “If you’re going to die anyway, you may as well come and work for me. Under my guidance, you won’t end up anything like you were before.”

”It can? I mean the fleet was resurrecting people, but it really messed the ones they used it up. All jumbled up bits instead of looking like me and you. Plus Kamek tried to copy that power but it never seemed to work. The spell needed the body and the spirit and with the body going all ashy here it was basically impossible to stop it from blowing away or getting, like, messy with other dust or ash or something” Rika replied with somewhat casual frustration at this having not worked.

”Yeah I didn’t even try to learn that stuff when I got that spirit off of him. Keeping people alive in the first place with this cat’s magic is way easier than that mess” the cat tail sporting Jr added in, hurrying to catch up, before asking the Witch ”also do you mean like, ghosts, when you talked about people sticking around? Coz I mean that’s what these two are” and then pointing at both of his ghost type pokemon.

”But I think they got taken here rather than died here? They were Galeeming after all” he added, before adding unsurely ”if that’s even how ghost type pokemon work?” prompting Rika to shrug and give him a ‘why are you asking me?’ look before getting back to the point

”Anyway, um, yeah. Dying is like, I've done it before. A lot. At least I remember it in dreams how it was like to be thrown to my death over and over like some peon. So I do not want to go back to that, and the way to do that is punching Galeem in its stupid face” she flexed her hands and balled them into fists, the gauntlets on her back doing the same while staring off into the distance, before turning a smile to the Witch ”So if you can, pick me back up so I can have a second run a it that’d be great!” probably not entirely aware of what that might involve getting herself into.

“A ghost would only be a hassle. I was thinking of a spectre: much more reliable.” There were so many wonderful types of undead: spirits, skeletons, zombies, phantasms, wraiths, Gemlings, Liches, the Pocked… And yet she’d never encountered anything quite like those pets the not-dragon had with him. For a short moment she fell silent, examining them with clear curiosity as she considered the benefits and risks of trying to dissect one of them.

But such investigations could come in their own time. “Don’t worry, Rika: I’ll make sure your death doesn’t go to waste. I might not have the power yet, but soon…” Oh, if only they knew the heights she’d once reached! Her current paltry handful of spells was nothing compared to the godlike arsenal she’d once wielded. On the other hand, she was growing again, and this visit to the armory would be yet another step in regaining her true strength.

“...Soon I’ll grow strong enough to cut that god’s heart out and eat it.”

On that delightful note, here was the armory. The Witch vaguely remembered the map of the airship, but ahead of her now lay a chamber she’d never physically explored before, one so filled with treasures she could practically smell them. Almost in a trance, she stepped forward and took in the Avenger’s hoard, murmuring words of appraisal that no one but her could hear.

”Weren't we going to the spirit chamber first?” Jr asked as the Witch became enthralled with the armory’s eclectic contents, to which Rika replied that ”I didn’t want to keep her waiting. She seemed so excited and helpful” very much misreading the situation.

They decided to have a look as well, noting that the armory had gained few new objects, including, of all things, dozens of spirits of various bandits.

”Wow, someone’s been busy- and also kinda lazy given they just dumped these here” Jr commented as he picked up and examined a bottle containing a noteless fading spirit ”like, what, are they expecting someone else to crush hundreds of spirits for them?”

”With that hat on and everything. Its ouchy even with you healing me up while using it” Rika agreed, before adding that ”still it is kinda fun to find out what you get”

The Witch carefully perused the objects on display, picking up and examining several before tossing them back with a sigh. “Too. Much. Clutter.” The quality wasn’t great either—most of the items here were far from their full potential. She’d need to get in here and do some serious crafting later, but for now she sequestered just a few small pieces: health and mana flasks, the ice wand Rika had mentioned earlier, and a horned circlet that she daintily set upon her head.

“...And this must be the snake gun.” With unhesitating precision, she seized it from among the myriad firearms and turned it over in her hands. “Hmm.” She’d never used a firearm before, but this one seemed as though it’d be quite useful indeed, albeit perhaps not in the way its maker had intended. Nothing like a bit of synergy to really make things fun.



She let it dangle from one hand in a profoundly unsafe manner as she wandered back over to Junior and Rika. “They don’t seem very strong…” She examined the spirits with a frown. “Still, we might get lucky. Why don’t you try first?”

”Well we’ll need to get the hat to do that. Which maybe should just be up here anyway?” Rika replied, before asking ”Do you, um, know how to use one of those” as she took in the way the Witch was holding her new gun.

”Yeah that is not how you… Ok we go down to the spirit chamber with some” Jr suggested, not even needing to get talked into ‘stealing’ from the public storage apparently, while adding on that ”and while we do that, we can give you some tips on how to, you know, not shoot yourself with snakes. Or us. Or any of the thing’s that’ll be stopping us from being turned into old people down in the rain”

“I don’t know,” the Witch answered, as she stared absentmindedly down the barrel. “I like surprises. Besides, the Inter-knot made it sound easy enough.” Pursing her lips, she raised the shotgun and aimed it with both arms outstretched, like she was holding a pistol. Just squeeze the trigger, and out came the snakes, wasn’t that it? She’d have happily demonstrated right there and then, were it not for the weapon’s unfortunately limited ammunition.

”ah, um, yeah not like that, you'll hit yourself in the face if you don't drop it. Here, let me just-” Rika said, before stepping in close to try and physically adjust the firing pose:

”this hand up here, not there, then pull it all back like this to brace this bit against your upper arm here and then pull it all up like this so you can aim down the sights and that's how you should be doing it with a bigger gun”

The Witch’s skin was cool to the touch, her bones tangible underneath. All the same, she played along nicely enough, offering no resistance at all to Rika’s adjustments. Her blue eyes narrowed as she squinted down the barrel, perhaps picturing some unfortunate creature about to receive a faceful of writhing serpents.

“…I see. It feels more comfortable this way.” Her finger waggled uncomfortably close to the trigger, only to pull away just a blink before disaster.

”oh and that goes here, so you don’t accidentally pull the trigger when something hits you” Rika helpful added, going so far as to move this threatening finger so it was outside the trigger guard. Only then did she step back, taking the aura of heat that had been like standing at a comfortable distance from a roaring fire with her, and looking quite pleased with herself. The girl, whatever she was inside, ran hot.

”Ok, yeah, that’s better” jr said, having left his sister to do these adjustments, and having gathered up an armful of spirit bottles ”Now let's get down to the chamber and crack these”

The Witch’s gaze followed after Rika, the expression beneath it unreadable. Then, a moment later, the sorceress slowly nodded. Lowering her shotgun and tucking it at least a little more safely under one arm, she gathered a few bandit spirits of her own and followed behind the young Not-dragon.

There were a few more safety tips as they traveled down to the spirit chamber, but overall that talk and trip passed mostly without incident till they arrived at their destination.

Within the chamber sat various machines to do with fusion, naturally, as well as, rather out of place, the awful looking chest with teeth that could for some reason be worn as a hat. Rika put down the helmet she had been carrying under her arm down, and then picked up the stupid hat and popped it on her head, making a little inhale of pain as she did so as the delightful artifacted started, for a lack of a better word, nibbling at her.

She waved an outstretched hand, into which Jr put the spirits one at a time, the ship girl crushing them almost at once and then putting the resulting item down on a table. Then as soon as she was done, she pulled off the hat, and her brother raised the oversized paint brush he carried around and cast ”Cure!” washing away the cuts and grazes the hat had inflicted in a burst of pure white magic.

Rika let out a little breath of relief, and then leaned over the spoils as she asked ”So what did we get?”



”Yeesh. Who were these guys?” Jr complained, to which Rika replied that ”Must have been a load of peons” as she poked the pile of copper coins with a disappointed expression on her face, before asking the Witch ”think you’ll have better luck?” not at all sounding confident that she would

The Witch’s best efforts yielded only a similar pile of junk, but that was no matter. She was rather used to having to sift through heaps of trash to find a single treasure, and at the very least some of the items here would help fill out her tattered clothing. In the meantime, while the other two had been trying their luck, she’d kept herself busy tweaking and fiddling with her gear from the armory, adjusting each item so she could slot in the tiny gemstones she used for her spells. While she couldn’t change the properties of an object outright (at least, not with the resources currently on hand), her skilled hands and subtle enhancements would help bring each one a little closer to what she needed.



Much better. She settled the horns back on her head, tucked away her new wand, and lastly slid the shotgun into an improvised leather holster she’d put together out of the bandit junk. With this, and a fresh pair of boots, she felt about as ready as she reasonably could be for the chaos to come.

She was certainly having a better time of it than the two kids, who foolishly did not see the inherent value in a free pair of boots. So up in rarity their gambling went instead.

”We got those two better spirits from yesterday to go through though, so we’ve gotta get something good out of all this, right?” Junior said as he pulled two jars out of his duffle bag. This resulted first in Rika perking up, and then looking a little resigned about having to go back into head-chewing town.

But go back into it she did, in order to crush the spirits of a very large crab with some sort of wheeled machine stuck to its back and a… smiling sausage man?

The first item resulted in an entire chest materializing in the girl’s hand, which thudded to the ground, clicking open with a puff of cold air, and revealing cut upon cut of fresh flesh.



The second exploded into a shower of green bits of paper that burst upwards out of the girl’s grip, and then rained down over all of them.

”What was-” Rika began to ask as she pulled off the hat, before looking up at the shower and identifying it as ”-Oh. Money? Guess that works”



What followed was the pair of kids scrambling to catch/pick up all the paper bills and stuffing them into various boots in order to stop them laying around all loose, after which they inspected the chest’s contents. The conclusion to said contents was quite simple: ”Guess it’ll be seafood for dinner again then”

Which meant they were going to have to go through yet another detour, this time lugging the chest of fish meat back to the mess hall where they’d started this whole little outing in, before finally hauling the greed hat and crucible to the armory where they dropped off all the junk/treasure they weren't keeping a hold of.

While they were at this, Jr asked the Witch ”So what’s with the crystals and whatever it was you were doing with your new stuff?”

The Witch paused from her dumping of excess bandit loot to hold up a tiny blue gemstone, partly nested within an elaborate crescent of gold. “Virtue gems; nightmare crushed down into pretty little pieces of rock. Mementos from a journey I finished long ago.” Briefly enraptured by her own demonstration, she turned the jewel so that it caught the light, shining a brilliant azure. “The Eternals thought that implanting these in their flesh would let them live forever. And they were right, after a sense… But I think they’re better used as tools. Conduits for my mana, giving it form and clarity.” She turned the gem slightly, and Rika would see that the gold upon it was sculpted to resemble a comet of raging fire—a fireball gem.

The Witch wasted little time in slotting it back into its place along the stem of her wand. “Now it obeys me, just as the fire obeys it. And in time, its cousins will answer to me too.”

”Neat” Rika declared this simply, the way she leaned in to take a close look at the sparkly gem far better conveying her interest, before inquiring, as simply ”and what kind of journey was that?”

In response, the woman only chuckled ominously to herself. “The kind with a sorry start and a beautiful ending. Perhaps one day I’ll tell you… But I’m not much of a storyteller.” She picked up the rest of her things, and promptly set off. “Anyhow, we’ve got more pressing things to worry about right now.” This second journey of hers hadn’t started all that well either, but she had a feeling things were soon about to get much more fun.

---

Eventually, after much running around from room to room, the Witch and the kids arrived at the vehicle bay again, just in time to hear the twin announcements, the latter of which resulted in Jr throwing up his hands and complaining ”Wait we could have just done half of that now!? Urrrgh” before also scowling at Edward for taking specifically Baby Mario out of the assorted BBs.

”I mean, we kinda gotta get ready to go so it’d have been a whole rush. Plus that was fun,” Rika replied, before she first sat down on the floor, and then reached behind her and started to fiddle with the straps attaching her gauntlets to her back.

”Urh, right, yeah hang on” her brother said to her, before stomping around behind her and helping her out with that, before also assisting her in strapping the gauntlets onto her forearms, leaving the giant pile of weird sword machines strapped back there.

A few moments later, and the ship girl stood back up, forearms now contained with a pair of oversized equivalents that she nonetheless lifted with ease. With two fingers she picked up her helmet and placed it on her head, before tapping a strip of cloth to herself, and instantly gaining a set of full plate armor. Around her hips, the twin sets of guns and two clawed limbs flexed and shifted before returning to a passive state as Rika briefly tested all her gear’s systems. Finally, a spear with a vertebrae themed halberd tip on one end and a double barreled gun on the other teleported onto her back, held there by a long strap.

”Alright, I’m good to go!” she declared, setting her eyes on the dwindling pile of rain survival gear. In contrast to this armoring up, her brother was down to just his clothes and a duffle bag, his minions stored in their pokeballs, his paint brush in the armory. He also said that ”I’ma leave the car, it’ll just turn into a bathtub anyway” to Rika without any extra context for the Witch to go off of.

Looking at Rika now, the Witch had to admit she still had a lot of catching up to do in terms of equipment. Still, she’d come a long way from the scraps she’d relied on back in Meridi-at-Han… Without any trepidation, or indeed any feelings at all, she quietly donned a raincoat and shield pack. “...Yes,” she murmured to herself, almost too quietly for the others to hear. “That was fun.” Putting together a viable kit from a set of wildly varied items reminded her of the old times, of Wraeclast, perhaps the closest place she’d ever had to a home. True, nearly everything on that poisoned continent had been trying to kill her, but it had also been the making of her, the experience that transformed her from an odd young girl into an unstoppable force of destruction.

Perhaps this Dead Zone would be much the same.

Into a smaller ship they filed, crammed together like prisoners whilst that irritating angel babbled on about the challenges ahead. Poor sleep? Nightmares? Thoughts of her own death? The Witch outright smirked at Sandalphon’s warnings, a list of so-called symptoms that more or less described her everyday life. She was no stranger to nightmares, and certainly did not fear them. She’d learned long ago to embrace the darkness, to let it inside and accept it as part of herself. If the fine hairs on the back of her neck now stood on end, it was out of anticipation, the desire to see for herself a land so poisonous and foul. She wondered: would she and it get along?

---

The Pelican touched down and the seekers filed out in short order into the land of rain and mud, water pouring endlessly down from the heavens atop of them, slicking the ground and pounding against the plastic raincoats.

Jr’s already had holes in the back, so it wasn’t helping him much, prompting him to immediately complain that ”They blew this place up and wiped out all the gross monsters and yet it's still the worst! Stupid Dead Zone” before kicking a clump of mud

”I mean it's not the Maw-” Rika replied, causing both to shudder, and put an end to end complaining on their end. Not that they really had any right to complain, as they had both found puddles to stand, somehow, on top of, rather than putting up with sinking into the mud like everyone else was.

The Witch trudged up beside them, staring out at the dull and rain-soaked landscape. “How do I keep ending up in such lovely places?” Her tone dripped with sarcasm, accompanied by far more literal droplets splashing off the rim of her hood. The terrain didn’t look like much to the untrained eye, but she could feel the fear and malice seething just beneath the surface, a vast hostility without direction nor intent.

“The dead are restless here. I can almost hear them.” Her voice was calm, but her breathing had intensified a little. “If I only had time to study it, I could master this land… Ah, well.” The group was setting off, and she knew better to tarry behind. Step by steady step, she began to pick her way across the land, keeping one eye always on the BB carriers and their strange twitching machines.

For whatever reason, her two new hangers on followed along with her, though at the very least they did offer a bit of help. The main manner of this came from Rika, who deployed a pair of little hovering drones (still bearing their pretty freaky abyssal designs) which went and hovered over the leading BB carriers, allowing a much better, constant, eye and ear on them than trying to glance over/through the group could give.

Which was convenient for the 2 short kids, that was for sure, as well as for anyone else near them in the group who overheard her say that ”If they spot something, I’ll know right away thanks to those, so we can focus on not sinking in the mud”

Once the Pelican disappeared into the rainstorm, the noise of its thrusters and engines swallowed by the cacophonous downpour, the two dozen Seekers were left -in quite literal sense- to their own devices. They did not set off straightaway, however. For one, not everyone was here just yet. Flying fast at a high altitude without missing a beat, the Avenger would be circling back toward the Dead Zone to drop off a round of hellpods containing the last few team members. Until they arrived, the others would need to wait so that everyone could proceed safely, sheltered by the Stable Field Emitter.

The other big reason for the group’s hesitation was, of course, the landscape arrayed before them. Muddy, mossy, rocky, and uneven, it offered no straight roads or easy footpaths. Last week’s voidout had cleanly carved the terrain into a massive, shallow basin, exposing a handful of underground tunnels and cave systems into which debris from the annihilated city had been thrown. Rivers of fresh rainwater lanced through the crater, their paths jagged and unpredictable, their currents surprisingly strong. As the downpour pounded their hoods and coats, the Seekers surveyed the environment as best they could, trying to plot out safe routes their makeshift convoy could use. Sandalphon calculated and charted better than most, but she knew as well as anyone that even the best-laid plans would go awry the minute a BB caught wind of one of the dreary realm’s spectral sentinels.

After another moment, the hellpods burst down through the clouds and plowed into the earth, suddenly breaking the tension with loud, rapid-fire slams and tremors. For a moment panic broke out, first about the sudden disturbance and then at the possibility of BTs responding to the noise, but no horrors reared their ugly heads. This spot, it seemed, was safe, so the team could take a moment to put together a game plan.

In the wake of the surprise, Juri’s jab elicited a snort from Nadia. “I’m pretty sure, yeah, but who knows? Maybe you’ll annoy me to death.” Right now, her own strategy for avoiding a voidout involved instinct and adaptation. If only she could go off on her own, where nobody else could ruin it for her. Then again, if someone did slip up and get eaten, nowhere she could go would be far enough. The feral sighed.

Sandalphon exhaled steadily, her pupils returning from concentric circles to normal. This was going to be dicey, no matter which way she sliced it. There were two dozen Seekers now, armed to the teeth, but powerless against the ghostly entities that drifted in the rain. Instead they clumped together within the Stable Field Emitter’s radius, clustered together like so many children under one umbrella. It struck Sandalphon as rather absurd, and the prospect of so many people maneuvering stealthily in an environment like this seemed impossible. Theoretically they could all forge onward with utmost caution, astringently detecting and then circumnavigating all potential threats, but time was a luxury that the heroes didn’t have. She was well aware that, being technological in nature, the Stable Field Emitter wouldn’t last forever. If it ran out of power, she and her companions would have nothing but their emergency shields and their synthetic raincoats between them and the Timefall. They would have to strike a balance between speed and caution.

The archangel narrowed her eyes. This, she realized, must be what humans called ‘anxiety’.

Edward moved to the front of the group as he outlined a tactic for BT detection. Though he seemed confident in its efficiency, Sandalphon couldn’t help but poke holes in his plan. Once he finished, she stepped forward to offer her feedback. “I respect your strategic eye, Edward. However, I’m afraid I cannot condone this policy. There is a critical problem…”

At that point, Nadia piped up with one eyebrow raised. “What does the temperature have to do with BTs?” she asked, completely serious.

Goldlewis winced, and Sandalphon’s pupils became minus signs. “...Two critical problems.”

“Oh!” The feral snapped her fingers, wide-eyed. “Ghosts are cold, right? That’s what you…uh, meant by degrees, right…?” She looked around at the others in increasingly dim hopes of confirmation, a dubious grimace on her face.

After clearing her throat, Sandalphon continued. “This strategy depends on vocal communication. BTs hunt primarily by sound. We would have to shout to be heard over this rain, and even if we whispered…” Her pupils became stress marks. “That might be too loud.”

Goldlewis scrunched up his face. “Can hardly see the doggone Qliphoth out there to begin with. Sounds like Juri’s right on the money,” he declared. ”We’ll be relyin’ on these doodads first and foremost.” He jabbed a thumb at the five-fingered odradek on his shoulder. “So keep a sharp eye on ‘em. And let’s be ready to run for it, if we gotta.” Right after Primrose nodded at Zenkichi, she got one from Goldlewis in turn.

While the others talked, Grimm kept his own scarlet eyes on the scenery. Having not accepted a shield pack, he wore his raincoat like a cloak over his unusually-shaped head, still out of sorts thanks to the SFE. Now, though, he spoke up. ”The rain is heavy, and growing heavier. We are not safe here. The path ahead may be perilous, but we must walk it all the same.”

Already feeling antsy, Nadia nodded her head in agreement. Whatever was out there couldn’t be as bad as this dreadful anticipation. Sandalphon seemed equally keen to set off, so before too much longer, the Seekers began their trek. For the most part they adopted the positions suggested by Edward, adopting a clock-shaped formation that made the most out of the safe zone’s circular perimeter. With the Stable Field Emitter clutched tight and held high, the Ace Cadet defined the safe zone’s center, and Sectonia hovered directly above him to make use of the vertical space. Roland, Goldlewis, Primrose, and Edward took up the one o’clock, three o’clock, nine o’clock, and eleven o’clock positions respectively, their BBs as alert as they were. Their odradeks beeped, but they had yet to focus on any targets, and if one of them stopped, they couldn’t yet be sure that the eerie shapes in the distance weren’t products of their imagination.

Before the BTs, the Seekers needed to contend with a more material matter endemic to the crater before them: its steep outermost edges. From atop the precipice, where half-melted rubble from the destroyed city lay in heaps, they could see a few ways forward. To the left, rainwater poured from the sheared-off end of a former sewer system, becoming a waterfall that washed down the basin’s slope. Thanks to all the water, the earth directly ahead appeared to be mostly mud, and judging by the mucky ruins where the ground evened out, at least one mudslide had already occurred here. To the right it was all rocks, a handful big but most medium or smaller, so they could definitely shift around underfoot.

Sandalphon quickly considered the options. Jumping into the water, or sliding down it once frozen, would be fast but risky. Nobody could afford to outpace the SFE, or slide straight into a BT, and it could damage the equipment. A slide in the mud would be a little more controlled. A Seeker could slip on the rocks or be sent tumbling if their weight dislodged one. Still, it could be managed. Goldlewis came to more or less the same conclusion, and in military fashion signaled to everyone to favor the right side. Slowly, carefully, began to pick his way down the rocks, testing each one with his foot before putting his weight on them. He used his hands for extra support wherever he could, trusting in his harness to keep the BB safe despite his protective instincts. Sandalphon followed behind him, lighter on her feet. If she lost her footing, Heavensent could still slow her fall enough to give her a reliable safety net. Meanwhile, Grimm proved light enough on his spindly legs that he found firm footing wherever he went. The Troupe Master could hop down at his own leisure, limited only by the advance of the safe zone.

Rather than climb down the rocks, Nadia hung back, allowing the others to advance until she perched on the precipice at the rear of the group. As the edge of the SFE’s safe zone approached from behind, she heaved off and began to slide down the muddy slope, her claws buried in the earth behind her to control her descent. Still, her effective weight meant that the feral built up speed fast, and after just a moment she slid out ahead of the Stable Field Emitter. “Crap!” Immediately the rain began to react to her personal shield. As it spattered against the yellow bubble, it glowed brighter in response, indicating the drain on its power. Seconds later, Nadia slid to a stop against the mudslide debris at the bottom of the slope, where she found an overhang to hide under until the rest of the group caught up. Though covered in mud, she cared about the timefall a lot more.

After a few moments, the Seekers reunited. Though lagging behind on the rocks, Sandalphon closed the distance with a jump that let her glide the rest of the way. The moment one trial ended, however, the next began. Just a few dozen feet beyond the slope, Roland’s odradek chirped. It focused on a point within the muddy ruins and began to clap its sensors together at a rate of about one per second. Everyone paused, including the other carriers. First contact. Goldlewis peered inside the fallen, half-buried building, but even while connected to BB Luigi, he couldn’t see anything in the shadows. Well, no hiding in there, that much was certain.. The group gingerly veered away from the ruins, with a very muddy Nadia holding her breath as she skirted around the crumbling, mud-covered structure. Edward’s odradek reacted after he started to move again, aimed in the same direction as Roland’s, but the next moment Roland’s adjusted to another point further ahead. Primrose’s clicked on and turned that way, indicating that the group should veer farther to the right, but the next moment the activation of his own odradek surprised Goldlewis. This time his pointed to the open area in the northeast, and after a moment Primrose’s joined his. There were BTs in all directions–the only question was how far away they were.

Almost immediately, Edelgard ran into trouble. Not everyone could see, and nobody wanted to risk jostling to see. Goldlewis stopped and crouched down, peering into the rain. In silence Grimm joined him, his stance low, and Nadia paused on all fours. Luckily the incident came to nothing, but the big man kept an eye out. He thought he could see shapes among the rain, but the atmosphere was too thick out here to tell for sure. At the very least, no BTs seemed dangerously close. He looked over his shoulder at Sandalphon, who nodded. This was never a question of whether or not the team could avoid areas with BTs completely; it was whether or not the Seekers could be quiet enough to brush past them when needed. Goldlewis beckoned to the others, and the team inched forward. Foot by foot. Yard by yard.

Suddenly, the veteran’s odradek picked up speed, clapping constantly. He stopped in an instant, then gasped.



He could see them. Shadowy, particulate humanoid, like shaped smoke or insect swarms, hung weightlessly a half-dozen feet or more off the ground like drowned men. Their umbilical cords swayed in the grip of otherworldly currents, anchoring them to the ground or to one another. They did not patrol, nor prowl, nor even seem to be searching. The whole row of them just floated there, like naval mines deep beneath the sea. Waiting for someone to stumble into them.

In an instant, Goldlewis composed himself. He held up a closed fist, signaling a stop. Since his odradek indicated only the closest one, he pointed out the rest to the others in quick succession. There were too many spread out to the northeast to get around them, so the team would need to edge north-northwest, around the muddy ruins, and avoid the quicksand patches. The moment Goldlewis began to move away the BTs faded, and the next second his odradek quieted down. He let out his breath and picked up the pace alongside the rest.

Grimm quietly dashed from the right side of the group to the left, closer to the ruins. The SFE’s safe zone would be roving over them, and while nobody dared duck inside, the direction of Edward and Roland’s odradeks convinced him that he could climb atop the structure and still be safe. The Troupe Master skittered up the nearest tilted wall, his black claws easily finding handholds. When he reached the top, he was pleased to find himself still inside the safe zone, albeit barely. Using the roof as a shortcut he could get across while the rest worked their way around the quicksand. After a few steps, though, Grimm heard one of the odradeks down below pick up the pace, and when he glanced down he spotted its light pointed his way. If it was indicating proximity from that distance, though…

A noise like a windy wail reached Grimm’s ears, and the Troupe Master turned to his left. Nothing met his eerie gaze, but after a moment spent scanning the roof, he thought he spotted something strange. By the time he confirmed the next one, it was too late. Black handprints were appearing one after another, some sort of sticky substance that didn’t wash off in the rain. As the trail neared Grimm, the Troupe Master stood stock-still and silent. He watched as the handprints paced around, coming within inches of his leg, but still he couldn’t see or feel any presence. After several tense seconds the trail veered away. Without a word Grimm turned, hopped off the dilapidated roof, and slid back down toward the others. He landed beside Nadia, who’d just extricated herself from a quicksand pit, and his sudden appearance making the excited feral’s hackles rise. She calmed herself, though, and peered up at the spot he came from. “See anything?” she whispered.

Grimm shook his head. ”Nothing at all.”

Cognizant of the light cast by her elaborate halo, and of her less-than-stellar physical ability, Sandalphon hung toward the rear of the group as they pressed on through the storm. The archangel hadn’t had long to acclimatize to her newfound emotionality, and so far this mission was already giving her nascent heart a workout. For someone accustomed to information warfare, whose powers of perception and coordination could decide the outcome of battles from the comfort of home base, being unable to pinpoint the threats around her made her feel helpless and frustrated. Still, even knowing that she couldn’t see the BTs, she continued her habitual monitoring until she stepped on a rock wrong and nearly twisted her ankle. “Ah,” she declared, her voice too flat to make it an exclamation. Only by quickly planting the barrel of her gunstaff did she prevent a fall. Of course, Zenkichi showed up the next moment to lend her a shoulder so that needn’t put pressure on her ankle to keep up. “My gratitude,” she breathed, glancing back at the edge of the safe zone. “For you, and these boots. I can scarcely imagine how much more difficult this would be in heels.”

Up ahead, Goldlewis encountered an issue of his own. When his odradek began clapping again, he ducked down in order to spot the BT responsible. It was close, but alone and off to the side, so no need for concern. Still, out of an abundance of caution he decided to move forward while crouching, and that turned out to be a big mistake. Immediately both his knees popped, eliciting a raspy snarl from the BT, and in that moment the tension got the better of the man. “Dammit!” he growled, covering his mouth with his hand a fraction of a second too late. With a moan the BT seemed to dissolve, and as its dark essence hit the ground a handprint splashed in the dirt. As his odradek went into a wild spin, however, the veteran got a hold of himself. Working his old but well-trained muscles, he quickly-crouch-walked out of the patrol range, and after another moment the alerted BT got left behind. He let out an exasperated breath as he stood, more angry at himself than anything. After that, his heart would be pounding for a while.

Remembering his BB, Goldlewis looked down at his pod and tapped on the glass. “How you holdin’ up, partner?” BB Luigi was wide-eyed, shaken but not so scared that he’d start crying just yet. The veteran gave him a thin smile. “Don’t you fret now,” he whispered. “We’re gonna get through this.”

Nadia made her way up to the front of the group, joining Roxas in between Roland and Primrose. Continuing on all fours for maximum silence and stability, she made her way forward until a new obstacle confronted the Seekers on their path. Up ahead, a huge fissure scarred the crater, its jagged length arcing in the approximate direction of the Qliphoth. As she neared the edge, the feral became aware of orange light emanating from within, and a quick look down confirmed the presence of lava deep within the ravine. It brought to mind her adventure with that ‘doom’ guy through the demon-infested part of Redgraccoon City, especially the fight against King Minos in courthouse above a lake of lava. Maybe some of the horrors plaguing that city had been buried so deep that not even the voidout annihilated them.

She also saw a number of ledges along the ravine’s sides that someone could conceivably walk along, or beneath, to take shelter from the timefall. Still, she didn’t entertain that thought until Goldlewis identified another pack of BTs along the ravine’s right side, where the Seekers were. The team could go around it to the left, into it, or maybe even over it. Nadia knew she could make that jump with a pressurized launch plus airdash, but the others might not be so fortunate. “We could go through there. Fis-sure looks like a shortcut to me,” she hissed, pointing down at the ravine’s sheltered ledges. The hazard of falling into lava spoke for itself, but she felt compelled to point out the other potential issue. “Gotta watch out for demons though. Could be in for a hell of a time.”

Sandalphon’s attention lay on the landmark to the left of the crevasse. A large crashed ship of extraterrestrial design lay in a field of tarry black earth and spikes, slowly deteriorating beneath the pounding timefall. Maybe the vessel had strayed too close to the Dead Zone in passing and lost power among the storm clouds, plunging down into these rain-drenched wastes. Its existence here rounded out the last of the team’s three options: BTs and tricky terrain, a shortcut through or across the ravine, or the long way around past the derelict spacecraft. By now the Qliphoth could clearly be seen through the rain, but this trip would get worse before it got better.

Sectonia wasn't a fan of this place. Sure she had a bit of a rain coat, and her chaos shield mitigated the wetness a bit more, but still this place was drab, dreary, and just awful. At least she didn't need to walk unlike everyone else. Flying was trickier though for her, thanks to this aura that was canceling the rain's time effect out. Needing to stick right next to Ace and the emitter wasn't too bad overall, he was strong enough to carry it around the various obstacles and her ability to fly made them not all that bad. She could see why the BTs were a bit terrifying though as you could only make out their hand prints and footprints if they were near without the BB users pointing them out.

Eventually they came to a crossroads. A shortcut over a fiery chasm with demons at the bottom, a detour through a ship, and finally a path apparently full of those invisible BTs Sectonia couldn't see. Seeing as the Quipoth they were headed towards was nearby and just across the chasm, Sectonia made a move to make deciding way easier for the group. "A chasm hm? I have something to solve that." Moving a bit forward but still within the emitter field, Sectonia waved her hands and a large pink portal dotted with hearts appeared over the chasm and out of it came a giant crystal that would make for a platform to make jumping over it much, much easier. It was smaller than her normal platforms, but it'd do the trick.

"My decision on how we move forward is clearly evident. I'd prefer to spend as little time out here as possible." She said, gesturing to the pink crystal platform.

When the briefing concluded, Snake exited the room in a calm stride toward the Armory. As he joined the others in line, taking a bubble shield pack and synthetic raincoat, he stepped out of line to ensure that the garment provided full coverage of his Sneaking Suit. From the onset of zipping it up after securing his pack, he knew it was going to be an issue. The raincoat had formed a press around his suit, which meant quick, careful movements would be needed to avoiding any tears. He didn't need anything else from the armory; prioritizing to travel as light as possible for this mission. While his iDroid wasn't as able to receive detailed, prepared reports like it did with Mother Base's intel teams, the intelligent assistant within it highlighted various marks of interest from Sandaphalon's report regarding the BT's, Timefall, and the unusual matter of chiral contamination. Snake moved to board the strangely angular dropship as he climbed into its troop bay; taking a vacant seat on the far right side closest to the cockpit entry door as he mulled over the situation. Snake's lip twitched as the massive dropship lurched up and forwar as it left the Avenger; far more abrupt than the gradual ascent of the UTH-66 Blackfoot. The only view of the outside was the trapezoidal viewport at the back of the troop bay, which was quickly becoming obscured dense fog and the staccato thrum of heavy rain against the hull of the aircraft.

As the SFE was activated, Snake straightened in his seat; the feeling akin to making every hair on his body stand on end- yet not producing any gooseflesh. It was uncomfortable, yet the moment quickly passed as he felt the deceleration of the aircraft signal their fast approaching drop point. Rising to his feet at the peak of the hover, Snake pulled his raincoat hood over his head and joined the other in taking a short drop onto the ground below. The faded scent of sterile metal had been instantaneously replaced by clean, crisp petrichor. Glancing around the environment and silently marveling at the bizarre accelearting effects that the rain had on the local flora, Snake stayed within the boundary of the field as he reflexively moved to pull out the strange walkie-talkie device attached to his hip, before holding it out ahead of him and depressing the side button. He actually hadn't remembered activating his iDroid since he arrived in this new world, and its response confirmed his suspicion. The handheld device chirped in an English-accented clinical tone; relaying various status updates as it cycled through data up until its disconnection from the Earth's satellite network. Strangely enough, wherever they were, a connection was found.

Reboot successful. iDroid Online. System functionality nominal. Alert. Disconnection from Mother Base. Warning: GPS connection lost. Detecting connection. Acquiring local signal. The map has been updated.

Snake let out a grumble as the device finished, being sure to set it on silent to avoid any sudden disturbances during their trip. He took a moment to cycle through everything that had been stored up until Galeem promptly wiped everyone out- and everything up until that point was still there. Dossiers, intel reports, document scans, Audio logs from Miller, Ocelot, Code-Talker- everything. Satisfied with knowing that not everything was lost, he switched over to the map view and held the device a little further out ahead of him. The holographic map expanded tenfold as he looked over the topographical layout of the area. Markers of different colors and indications littered the terrain, yet there appeared to be a discernible pattern where they were placed. River crossings, equipment markers, and a plethora of warnings alongside the occasional heart symbol. Had the environment not been so hostile from the start, Snake wouldn't have minded exploring this strange and hauntingly beautiful landscape. However, they were all on borrowed time. Even with the iDroid able to provide a detailed layout of the area, it would have to be used sparingly. They had to reach the Qliphoth, and as the Hellpods jostled the ground beneath them, threatening to send the incorporeal phantoms to their location just as they arrived, none had come. That didn't mean they wouldn't be out there, however.

Deactivating and clipping his iDroid back onto his beltloop, Snake proceeded to silently follow the bigger military man with the BB. Taking up the last of the group on the nine 'o clock position, The Mercenary kept a reasonable spacing as the group trudged onward. The terrain was not to be trifled with; much more intense than the Anglo-Zaire region during its heavy rainstorms. Actually, there was nothing worth comparison. This world was, for all intents and purposes, familiar yet entirely alien. Snake couldn't help but wonder if the rain ever stopped. Sticking close to Goldlewis, he did his best to ignore the cry of surprise the catlike woman elicited as her momentum overshot the barrier of the SFE; briefly causing its activation and protecting her in a glistening field of flicking pearl golden energy. The anticipatory tension of encountering one of these so-called BT's began to gnaw at his insides, furthermore as the BB carrier's Odradeks began to activate one by one. The cacophonous clicking of the devices darted with insect-like movements as they swapped between their user's targets, and the phantom's proximities to each. They were already surrounded.

Snake watched as the group adjusted their trajectory to try and counter the direction to whatever it was they could see, which made him quietly close his own distance to Goldlewis to ensure he didn't accidentally set one of these things off. However, just as Snake was inches from the man's six, the veteran's knees popped as he stifled a curse. The Mercenary froze, trying to remain as still as possible as something rattled hoarsely to their front before setting down a heavy handprint in the mud. With heavy rattling snarls, the creature began to gradually creep up to investigate the disturbance. Snake grit his teeth; steadying his heart rate as the ghastly specter skulked around the man’s front, then to the left and directly toward him. Snake adjusted his movements; stepping off to the right of the encroaching handprints and being sure to give the thing a wide berth. Once the BT had passed, Snake deftly made his way forward and back onto Goldlewis’s flank. The man was used to avoiding hostile patrols, but the dread of being ‘caught’ by one of these ghastly entities unnerved him- even if he wasn’t going to show it outright.

With what limited time he had before the group began to splinter, he surveyed his options. The craggy terrain and clapping Odradeks immediately invalidated the first option for him. He didn’t have one of those strange amber pods, so attempting to navigate around those things was out of the question- unless someone went with him and could be his eyes. The path through the ravine was out of the question too. The terrain on this world was unpredictable, and plunging into lava wasn't something he was too keen on doing. The third- what the hell was that thing? Some kind of crashed Metal Gear? They weren't here to scavenge a derelict wreck, but the path it led to and around to their objective seemed to be the safest, if not the longest of the three choices. Out here, slow and steady won the race.

Rejoining his previous position along the big man's six, Snake crept close to gently tap Goldlewis on his right shoulder as he spoke softly, voice never breaking out of a low growl. "Route past that wreck over there appears to be the safest path forward. I wouldn't chance the other two."

Other than a few mishaps, things were going about as well as could be expected. The Seekers were in rough, unfamiliar terrain which they had to navigate while avoiding invisible enemies that could hardly even be tracked if not for the BBs a few select members of their group carried with them. Since they could even fight said enemies, every one of these mishaps that didn't lead to a direct encounter and a BT dragging off a friend was frankly a win.

The banuk werak greaves turned out to be very helpful for the Cadet as they moved. Slick stone and loose rocks were still a danger to watch out for, but the mud didn't hinder him at all. It neither slowed him down nor made him slip, which was good news for the rest of the group too - the stable field emitter had a decently smooth ride so far, and with a steady pace set there wasn't much danger of someone accidentally finding themselves outside of the safety zone due to something its carrier did.

For others things were a little rougher. Any stumbles Primrose made were quickly corrected, either by her own leg and core strength or her companions catching her before she fell. Therion's natural dexterity helped him also avoid falling, though he looked to be one of the most miserable Seekers due to the rain and mud combo in the first place. Once the group really got moving (though still relatively slowly all things considered), Pit found himself struggling a little. He was pretty light, so he didn't sink so much as slip, and with his wings protectively wrapped up in the raincoat he couldn't just push into the air to avoid getting planted in the mud.

All in all it was a difficult, tense, but successful trek so far - made a little easier after the horned mercenary Snake provided a topographical map. And as everyone made their way through mud, over stone, and around quicksand while the odradek swiveled and chirped, they eventually made it to a deep crevice that ran right through their way forward.

There were a couple of routes they could take from here - even the right hand side that Goldlewis informed them was full of BTs was technically an option. Though the first person to make their preference known was of course the picky queen of Floralia. She manifested her own route in the form of a crystal large enough to be used as a bridge, or at least part of one. She also said what pretty much all of them felt, that the less time spent under the rain the better.

"You and everyone else," Therion remarked quietly. He looked at the crystal Sectonia had summoned, then across the expanse, until finally he looked over towards the ravine's edge. The chance of falling would probably be roughly the same on either route. The rain itself was unpleasant and annoying, so even though going straight across via an air bridge like this would most likely be faster, the rocky overhangs on the edge would offer a break from the downpour. That was enough for Therion to make his own decision about which path to take.

"I'm gonna head that way, meet you all on the other side," he said, nodding his head towards the area Ms. Fortune had pointed out.

"Allow us to accompany you," Primrose replied, laying a hand on top of BB Peach's pod. This way, he and anyone else that opted to take the route down through the ravine would be able to sense BTs in that area, if there were any to begin with.

The two of them activated their bubble shields just before leaving the safety of the emitter's range, hurrying towards the path sheltered by rocky ledges.

Right away the Ace Cadet figured he wouldn't be able to take the same path. With the emitter in hand he'd have to watch out for the roof ledges, and anyone that wanted or had to rely on the field would be forced to come along with him. The area they could walk on down there didn't look all that wide either, so it would be harder to keep everyone within the field unless they cozied up pretty close, which meant it would be easier to fall off too. There was also the question if some of their group could even fit down there. And since avoiding BTs was a top priority, that left two routes.

It was obvious on his face which one Ace preferred. He hadn't shrunk away when Sectonia opened her portal, but he did suck in a quick breath and hold it, eyeing the whole affair with apprehension.

It might not have been so clear to most of the current Seekers, but after their shared experience on the Maw, the survivors had walked away with fears starting to manifest in their hearts. Some grew afraid of the dark, of being bound, or being eaten. Some worried about not being able to eat, or being separated from others. But for the Ace Cadet, a man who'd grown up orphaned in poor villages and whose profession saw him into the deepest reaches of the environment in order to pit himself against carnivorous monsters much larger than himself, these were fears he'd already faced. The Maw had left him with a much more esoteric concern, the very thing that had seemed to put them into that predicament in the first place: magic.

What used to be just the stuff of fairy tales was a tangible force in this world, something that could come out of nowhere, create any number of effects, and had no observable rhyme or reason to how it worked. It unnerved the hunter. Being around his magical allies was one thing, but interacting with their magic was another. He couldn't tell if the crystal platform itself was a magic construct or just being held aloft by Sectonia's power, but either way he was hesitant to take this new route.

But it wasn't just himself he had to worry about at the moment. He could hand the emitter off to someone else and scurry down in the ravine, but passing off responsibility wasn't his style. Using the crystal route would be quick and easy - probably the most painless route for everyone involved. He knew that.

After a few moments he started breathing again.

"How stable is this?" he asked, casting a glance toward the ravine's ridges and the crashed ship beyond them before his gaze turned back to judge the chasm's distance.

"I wouldn't offer it as a solution if I wasn't sure it'd hold everyone here crossing it."

With his free hand, the Ace Cadet scratched at the back of his head. Sure, of course Sectonia was confident in her abilities and wouldn't be trying to dump everyone into the molten bed below, but her response wasn't the most crystal clear answer.

Even while the hunter hesitated, others were quick to accept Sectonia's crystal bridge. Still within the field emitter's range, Pit hopped the short distance between the ravine's edge and the platform, landing on the large pink gem's flat top. He tapped it with his foot, testing it out on Ace's behalf. Even the angel could see that Ace wasn't very enthusiastic about this plan, to say the least. But the gemstone held up, and Pit called back softly.

"Seems fine. And this will definitely be the fastest way," he said, pointing back to the Qliphoth. Everyone could see it now, and using the crystal platforms would let everyone head directly towards it without worrying about detours to get around more difficult terrain. "C'mon, we don't wanna waste any time, right?"

That was true, so with a slight nod of his head Ace relented. "I don't lava this plan, but... okay. Floating crystal path it is."

He steeled himself and hopped over as well, making the decision for anyone else that planned to rely on the stable field emitter. They began making their way atop the crystal, but it wasn't long before the scoutfly cage at Ace's hip gradually changed from glowing green to red, the insects alerting to danger they could actually sense. Pit seemed to sense the same thing, but with all the interference he had no clue where it was coming from - not until a bulbous cacodemon floated up from beneath the crystalline platform.

As soon as it entered the SFE's range its flight faltered, but it didn't seem perturbed. It opened its toothy mouth wide, gathering crackling blue energy inside of it and launching a few bundles of concentrated plasma at the Seekers. Immediately Pit moved to intervene, quick-summoning his orbitars. It blocked one of the plasma balls just fine, but the reflect was extremely lackluster, the plasma just dispersing against the demon's body once it was returned to sender.

Though Pit's weapons were weakened within the boundaries of the SFE, Ace's weaponry had no such issues. He kept his rigging pulled in close as not to mistakenly knock someone with it, instead sliding the emitter's pole into the crook of his arm and bringing the breechshot up to take aim. The first shot ripped through the demon's upper lip, tearing off one enlarged fang. The hunter pulled the bolt on the rifle's side back and pushed it forward again, quickly ejecting and chambering another round as though he was already an expert with this kind of bowgun. The second shot blasted through the demon's bright green eye and it sputtered, groaning and teetering in the air. It opened its mouth with intent to spit up more plasma balls, but at that point anyone could finish it off - though since he was already firing, the Ace Cadet obliged. He shifted to take proper hold of the SFE again afterward, the bowgun in his other hand.

As the cacodemon crumbled to ashes, there were a few tense moments when the group wondered if the noise would draw any BTs toward them. But there was no movement from the odradek indicating they were around, so either they were far enough away that even gunshots couldn't reach them, or they couldn't get to the Seekers where they stood over the lava ravine.

There were still the demons of course. Pit carefully peered over the edge and looked down below their platform, informing the group, "there are more of those things coming up - they're using us like a big umbrella!"

Still, in force like this there wasn't much that could really threaten the Seekers, and without the threat of the BTs they could move and fight relatively worry free until they reached the other side.

Meanwhile, the same wasn't true for those that opted for different paths. Within the sheltered half-tunnels at the ravine's edge, monsters clung to the rock to avoid the timefall themselves. Their dark colored bodies let them easily blend into the shadows, making anyone that unknowingly approached their hiding spots an easy ambush target. Especially since they'd have to avoid slipping and being sent over the edge into the lava below, on top of the point of most concern: the BTs.

As Primrose and Therion lead their way and moved along the edge under the rocky cover above, mindful of the uneven terrain but grateful for a break from the rain, BB Peach seemed to sense something - and the odradek attached to Primrose's shoulder swiveled. Feeling that chill the dancer paused, waiting for its scan to point out where the danger was. The odradek turned its flower-like face upward, its petals beginning to click together... but when the Orsterrans followed its gaze with their own, instead they found the face of a demonic prowler staring back at them from the ceiling.

A false positive? Primrose thought, conjuring a dark flame in her hand as the now discovered prowler threw out its stealth tactics and pounced with its deadly claws outstretched. If only they could be so lucky. The demon bounced against the Baldur Shell that had formed around Primrose, and Therion wasted no time in jumping in to stab at what he assumed were the creature's vital points. At the same time the odradek continued pointing upward, steadily clapping faster. Realizing what that meant, Primrose called out a sharp, short warning. "Wait!"

It was easier said than done, as the demon was tougher than it looked. Even wounded, weakened, and bleeding in multiple places due to Therion's attacks, it let out some aggressive gurgling as it continued to swipe at the thief. He fought it off, leveraging his own speed to avoid any deep gashes until the prowler sprang away, latching itself back onto the wall. By that point the odradek's clapping had turned to ominous spinning. Primrose stood as still and quiet as she could, save for one clench of her fist. The fire in her hand turned from black to flickering orange, mimicking the lava below and casting a better light around the immediate area. Now she could see it, the tarry handprints making their way down over the ledge onto the stone ceiling, crawling along it and the walls towards the sounds of the scuffle. It was headed right for Therion and the prowler, but it would reach the latter first. It was no comfort, as no one wanted to find out if a voidout could be triggered using a demon. They had to quickly and quietly end the fight.

Primrose's newest striker Bianca appeared ahead of her, raising her great sword up and thrusting it through the prowler's chest as it prepared to jump. When Bianca withdrew her blade and disappeared, the demon lost its grip. Therion took hold of it as it fell, then heaved its wailing body over the ledge and into the chasm. It would turn to ashes long before it hit the lava below, but its death cries were loud enough to keep it in the BTs metaphorical sights. The handprints had chased the noise and for one pulse pounding moment circled close around Therion before they rushed to the edge of the rocks where the prowler's last noises had come from.

The Seekers in the ravine held their breaths, careful not to move or make any sound as the black handprints crawled over the area. They trailed down over the side of the cliff and then back up, unwilling or unable to move into the open air. They paced in the area and then slowly began to climb back up the wall, wandering the ceiling over everyone's heads. It was a few more moments before they crawled back over the upper ledge above them, and the odradek went back to clapping its petals together to show the specter was steadily moving away from them once more. Only once they were sure the coast was clear did they keep moving, carefully making their way underneath the BT on the stones above them and towards the end of the chasm to meet back up with the others. Primrose's odradek continued scanning all the while.

”I’ll admit, I’m hardly a Rogue Lord, nor particularly in tune with nature or shadows, so my experience with skulking around so close to our foes is not exactly extensive” Edward was forced to admit quietly in response to Edelgard’s more politely delivering of Juri’s crass objection to the vocal component of his plan of how to warn people of threats. He gave Sandalphon a nod of agreement to her own breakdown of the issues and then held back a sigh when Goldlewis drove it home.

”Worry not, commander. The core of your plan is solid. I myself am unused to such maneuvering as well.” Edelgard consoled Edward, giving the man a nod. ”As long as we are careful, things ought to be alright.

”Seems like everyone has to get a word in, your lucky it stopped there” Minda joked a touch louder than necessary, making light of the minor humiliation, before suggesting ”still, no reason to not stick to the other part, so let’s get that set up at least?” prompting Edward to nod, and then to swiftly seize one half of the front of the formation he’d outlined in a display of shrewd/petty political maneuvering.

As such, they were some of the first to come upon the precipice of the crater, eyes scanning silently along the amount of its circumference they could see, and get a good impression of exactly how big the explosion really had been.

”It was one thing to be blinded by this place’s demise, but this… it's all gone. All of the places from my dreams, wiped away” Midna said first in a loud whisper, before deciding ”good riddance”

”Perhaps” Edward replied quietly and with deliberate succinctness, only for Minda to tilt her head and ask ”What was that?” again with an unsuitable level of volume for the situation.

Edelgard grimaced at Midna’s volume, looking over to the Twilight Princess. “Midna, I must implore you to better coach your volume. It is liable to result in our detection.” She cautioned quietly, gesturing around them. ”In this place, we are in danger merely having a conversation.”

”You’ll-” the princess began to respond, quite possibly about to ask them to speak up, but caught herself before getting through any more of the sentence. Instead she simply nodded, before turning her gaze down at the way forwards- and then immediately starting to say ”So how-” before cutting herself off again with a grunt of annoyance.

Edward glanced at Edelgard, his face one briefly showing concern for this development, before he tried to get back to business. He pointed at her, or rather her armor, then at the way forward, before pointing his hand, palm raised up, to her in question.

Edelgard simply nodded, not entirely sure what the man was getting at, but surmising that he was questioning whether she was okay to continue in her armor. She mimed taking it off slowly, and then putting it back on very slowly, her mouth a semi-contrite line. It wasn’t ideal, but unless they wanted to put her armor back on before getting into any fights, it was a necessary evil.

She instead made a circle with her finger, then pointed forward. There was no time for debate, now was the time for action.

”Y-” came Midna’s bitten off comment (from the sound of the little grunt of pain that ended it had been quite literally ended via bite) to this attempt at improvised hand signals. Meanwhile Edward didn’t look quite sure how they’d gotten there, but gave an affirming nod to the one for haste.

There was, for the armored leaders, really only one logical path after all, though it was hardly an ideal one. It was to the rocks with them, Edward shifting to leading the way at just about the same time Goldlewis signaled for much the same. The resulting formation, at least, did not need to be discussed as the two BB carriers fanned out across the rocks as much as was possible with the limits of the field emitter.

The Dreadnaught did not exactly set the swiftest pace, which given that he had an infant in a glass chamber strapped to his chest was hardly surprising. Especially so when one early slip was rectified only by a flap of wet SFE suppressed wings, looking very much like a drowned pigeon in that moment, after which he immediately slowed his advance even further.

Edelgard’s own descent was carefully measured, each step taken slowly to avoid losing her footing. However, as she made her way down, her boot dislodged a small rock, which ominously rolled down the hill, making small noises every time it hit another rock and bounced further down. Waiting with a wince to see what happened, Edelgard breathed a sigh of relief when nothing came of the minor misstep, and continued down in peace.

Midna meanwhile brought up the rear, the princess resorting to stabbing her tree spear into cracks between the stones, regardless of the damage that might do to the weapon, to compensate for the fact that she had even less grip on the surface than everyone else. Her draconic tail swayed back and forth behind her as she did so, adding at least some balance to her rather unstable act.

Fingers cold and muddy from being used to navigate, Edward and Midna’s shared fashion choice of fingerless gloves resulting in both of them making futile attempts to warm and dry their digits after the climb that felt like it had taken an age.

They set off again soon after, only for Edelgard to take a tumble and give them their first look at what being hunted by a BT looked like. Edward and Minda would have helped the stumbling women, had Midna not been unable to stop herself from cursing ”Goddesses” at the sight of the incident, drawing their attention to her and Edward’s location.

They at least did not have to contend with getting up, and so both backed smoothly away from the site of her exclamation, before Geralt’s rock tossing drew their hunter’s attention away as well.

Both approached Edelgard after things had died down, Edward offering, under a raised wing’s shelter from the rain, a small hand towel from a pouch at his waist. They had to wait till the two BBs stopped their hunting around the rock spot anyway, so they had a moment for her to get some of the ‘egg’ off her actual face.

Edelgard graciously accepted the offered towel, wiping as much mud off her face and hands as she could, returning it soaked and soiled with an apologetic smile (it sadly proved more or less unsalvageable given the current conditions, and was silently and fusslessly disposed off as a result). As they set off again, Edelgard kept a more careful eye out for loose rocks and tripping hazards, though she had to go just a bit slower to do so. The frustration was evident on her face, though she did a commendable job at keeping a lid on it.

Edward and Midna both did a commendable job of not unduly commenting on the incident, though by the muffled sounds coming from behind Midna’s mask it seemed like doing so was very much a battle she was actively fighting, tooth vs tongue. As such, they eventually made it to the crevasse without further incident (beyond a close call with Goldlewis), and were forced to contend with the options at their disposal: crashed aircraft which Edward kept stealing glances at, vs crossing down into or over the wide obstacle. Secotnia provided a method of the latter, while Midna provided a warning of what to expect based on past memories of the burning pits of the dead zone, which contained, quite simply: ”Demons”

”I am…reluctant…” Edelgard admitted, choosing her words carefully, before gesturing around her and to the others. If they went into the ruins, they risked alerting BTs to their presence and starting a chase in the midst of a battle. Perhaps Edward and Midna could manage it, but Edelgard was too great a liability in that regard. It was only through Geralt’s timely assistance that she was so easily able to escape before. Instead, Edelgard gestured to the rest of the group, clearly not wanting to separate from them.

This got nods of understanding from the other two, and so they decided to stick with the generator. That did, however, involve crossing over a magical rain slicked crystal platform. Also, someone needed to make sure that they weren't going to be running straight into BTs doing this, and so Edward went ahead of the field generator itself to do just that, stepping onto it first, wings spread wide and with careful steps to avoid slipping.

Minda followed suit, although she took the opposite approach. When crystal and decrease friction met with slippery results upon an initial test step, she backed up two more, took a run up, and then slid across the crustal as if it were an ice sheet, before stabbing her spear into the ground on the opposite side to halt her momentum

Edelgard, in her armor, grimaced at the rain-slicked platform that she was expected to jump upon and across, and took a slow, deep breath with her eyes closed. She was not enjoying this, for just about every conceivable reason. Rather than the devil-may-care approach Midna took, Edelgard was very cautious and calculated in her approach, using only just enough strength to land on the platform, so that she would not have much momentum to carry her across it. She did, however, still possess momentum, and it took a moment for Edelgard to regain her footing on the crystal platform before she settled in. ”What a miserable affair…” she mumbled.

It was when their SFE carrier himself started to make the crossing that things got problematic, and the Demons Midna had mentioned made their appearance, with one large disembodied head floating up to assault them. In response to this Edward drew his new pistol and fired off a shot at it, but the flintlock proved to have terrible accuracy, the bullet lancing off at an angle despite his dead-on aim.

It then also refused to fire a second shot.

”You have to hit things with the sword to reload it” Minda informed him when he asked why, something he described as ”Absurd”

Ultimately, Ace himself handled the threat expertly with his own gunfire, but it was only the first of several more to come.

A few more of the round demons where ascending, as where a compliment of magic spitting Gargoyles who climbed and fluttered up the sides of the crevasse, and a screaming swarm of lost souls which prompted a warning of ”Those burning ones explode!” from Midna due to them sticking out particularly in her dreams it seemed. ”Of course they do!” Snarked Edelgard, Aymr summoned into her hand, ready to do battle as the gargoyles approached.

The number of enemies wasn’t actually that intimidating, they’d faced far larger hordes of foes in skyworld after all, but with their magic suppressed and their gear light, it still possessed a threat.

Particularly if one of the supposedly lost souls were to detonate the crystal while others were crossing it.

For Edelgard, the threat posed by the gargoyles was not one she could casually ignore. No, because of course these demons attacked with magic, rather than with tooth and claw like the demonic beasts of her world. Even her shield could not truly protect her from the green projectiles they threw, and Edelgard found herself relying heavily on the others to defeat their foes, as her own magic, weak on its own, was suppressed heavily, as a Gargoyle just about shrugging off a Fire spell showed. This did, however, mean that unless the Gargoyles approached her directly, she could not harm them very much at all.

The Lost Souls, on the other hand, seemed to explode with a more mundane force, and her shield and armor were more than capable of staving off the brunt of those blasts. They also were easily repelled with a single blow from Aymr, launching backwards from the impact and exploding harmlessly away from her. ”Please tell me none of those things have heard us!” she cried out to Edward as she watched a Lost Soul explode after a swing and a hit.

”The Odradek is calm” Edward called back from where he was taking cover, more or less hiding from the fight, tapping away at a stuttering armory access circle. To be fair to him, the man did have a baby strapped to his chest, even if that baby looked like it very much wanted to get in on the action, Baby Mario sporting the most determined look an infant was capable of doing while his hands were balled into fists.

Midna meanwhile had ducked out of the fight entirely at first, or, rather, had ducked out of the SFE field, only to then duck back into it once she was done casting unsuppressed magic, returning holding a pair of square, snub nosed auto pistols, one in each hand. With her spear left embedded in the ground, she stepped into the role of dps to Edelgard’s tank, peppering their foes with small arms fire.

Somewhat ineffective it might be said, the woman’s shots often flew of course for faults that were entirely her own, and by the string of curses and insults along the lines of ”Stay still and die you overgrown Keese!” she was very much aware of this shortcoming.

The best ranged support they provided as a team came rather late, as Edward finally acquired a suitable weapon via slow armory uplink. He then propped the long barreled sickly green highlighted Therian Viral Rifle between two rocks on the crevasse’s’ edge, keeping his charge and the delicate equipment attached to the BB firmly behind his cover while he started returning fire. Rather than thunderous retorts, the futuristic weapon elicited a combination of surging electrical hum and a woosh of air as it spat syringes of horrible viral toxins at the demons, toxin which seemed not to care about their victim’s otherworldly nature one bit as they left gangrenous itching wounds on the targets.

Edward was, notably, not using the inbuilt digital scope to fire it due to unfamiliarity with anything beyond iron sights, somewhat hampering his accuracy, though weakened casts of his Designate Target spell helped both him and Minda’s in finding their mark.

The rifle's healing alt-fire also went entirely unused.

”Also why I didn’t use that one!” Midna called out in comment as they got a close look at one of the rotting demons when it came at them with bladed arms, only for her to kick that particular specimen back into the pit. Edwad simply described it as ”very goblin-esque” in a tone of grudging respect for the advanced form of blight based warfare.

Much of the pressure from the ranged attackers off her now, Edelgard was free to batter Lost Souls to her heart’s content, though she’d have preferred not to be fighting on this strange crystal platform at the moment. When one came close, she simply lashed out with Aymr, and in due time, the tide of demons began to abate, though Edelgard found herself rather heavily wounded due to all of the magic attacks that came her way. Her coat was also somewhat damaged, with burn marks leaving access to her armor. ”Damn it. I will need to be careful not to come into contact with the rain directly, it seems.” Her armor would provide one final line of defense if her personal shield ran out, but that wouldn’t last nearly as long as the coat itself would have, and would have the nasty side effect of compromising her defense. ”We should continue now before more come.” Edelgard warned, panting a bit as she used a Heal spell on herself to relieve herself of some of the damage, though it was, again, much less effective than normal.

Edward provided some magical healing of his, or rather of a feather staff striker’s, own as well, but it too was suppressed, seemingly even more than Edlegard’s own.

”Well, you tried” Minda commented with a shrug, before stepping away to go ditch her pistols outside of the SFE field. However Edward was not done, saying
”Give me a moment an perhaps-” as he crouched down and started to inspect the construction of the weapon he was holding, flicking a switch which seemed to swap the partially drained viral chamber for a second still mostly full one of a much more pleasantly green fluid.

”I suppose that will do it” he concluded, reluctantly, before informing her that ”If I shoot you now it will, supposedly, heal you”

Edelgard looked at Edward with great skepticism, before turning her gaze onto the strange weapon he was wielding. ”If this does not work, I assure you, commander, that we will be having words. Do what you will with that.” She replied, giving Edward the choice.

The man looked as if he was about to say something, then thought the better of it. Instead he raised the rifle once more, and fired the shot at the largest of Edelgard’s remaining injuries. There was an electrical hum and woosh once more, and once again a green payload splattered against the weapon’s target. Rather than sicken and rot, however, it produced a warm, soothing tingle across the burns as it smoothed them away.

The feeling and healing ended quickly, though somewhat unfortunately the goop itself did not go anywhere when it did, instead simply graying as it became inert and needing to be wiped off.

”I thouuuuuught you said you should never do that” Minda teased, causing Edward to start just a fraction at how she’d crept back up on him at least.

”And I’d prefer not to do so ever again, though I am now somewhat stuck carrying this about” Edward replied, referring to the lengthy returning process that the SFE or rain would both make monumentally more difficult to pull off.

Having wiped the goop from the viral rifle off after the healing ended, Edelgard was left feeling more than a little unclean. Between the rain, the mud, the hits she’d taken, and the healing slime, she was already ready to be done with this day. Still, they’d crossed the ravine and were finally ready to move on. She looked forward to the omnipresent form of the Qliphoth and nodded. ”Well, shall we?”

---

To Juri it became apparent that everyone liked her plan over the so-called tactical genius. Thus she smirked smugly, crossing her arms and shrugging. No big deal. Juri said all kinds of smart things, all the time. She was a genius, and somewhere floating around in the multiverse was the paperwork to prove it.

Who wasn’t a genius by Juri’s standards was the clumsy knight who nearly got them all caught already. ”Do I even have to say anything, Queen Clutz?” She whispered harshly. ”Tchuh,” With a shake of her head she moved away.

Juri herself was doing just fine. Since their enemies were blind she didn’t waste her time with crouching, standing up with her hands behind her head. Her Sombra influenced bodysuit was more socks than shoes. The artificial cyan toenails were strange, but she liked them. And it allowed her freedom of movement of her feet like normal.

She stepped over rocks and didn’t slip or do anything stupid like that. Juri was a sneaky spider. Walking over some mud was a walk in the park.

Soon they had to evaluate their next options. Juri was interested in the spaceship. ”Maybe there’s some sweet ass alien loot in there that could help us.” She ventured. ”Plus, like, I dunno. Looks pretty safe?” But obviously if the main team with the big shield was going in one direction, she'd follow it. Juri was confident in her own ability to remain stealthy and steady, so she didn't care where she ended up.

With Zenkichi at her side, his physical presence and support helping to set her beleaguered mind at ease, Sandalphon continued alongside the rest of the Seekers on their grim trek. Huddled around their beacon of safety that was the Stable Field Emitter, its eerily spectral electric white glow the only illumination in this gloomy deluge, other than the archangel’s halo and and the lights on the odradeks’ fingers. They trudged on, more or less united, until they reached an impasse at the precipice of a deep, lava-filled crevasse. Standing at this impasse, they could consider multiple options, but none looked good until Sectonia conjured a means of spanning the gorge to get the team to the other side.

Thanks to that airborne crystal, smaller than usual but miraculously stable even within the bounds of the SFE’s anomaly-quelling field, anyone could make the short jumps needed to get across the ravine, but not everyone did. The crashed ship over to the left, loosely canvassed by a BB and determined relatively safe for lack of detected BTs, proved to be too tantalizing a prospect for several of the more adventurous Seekers to let alone. At the same time, Therion favored another route, and his friend Primrose took the initiative to enable an alternate path down into and along the sheltered ledges of the ravine itself. While splitting the party was a risky move, Sandalphon knew that in a situation like this, there was no such thing as safety in numbers. As long as different divisions of the team each possessed a BB, and could find some way to avoid overexposure to the timefall, they could lessen the possibility of one error spelling doom for the whole team. As a few frontrunners took to the giant gemstone stepping-stone to pave the way for Ace and his all-important emitter, Sandalphon made a choice of her own. She moved to follow Primrose and Therion as they dropped into the ravine, the motion of her telltale halo’s glow making her decision apparent without the need for words.

Keeping Sandalphon in good pace with the rest of the Seekers had required a bit of careful maneuvering. Zenkichi had to watch the Odradeks of the four BB carriers to know when he could pick up the pace a little, and when they had to keep it slow. At least Sandalphon was pretty light, and more than willing to make up whatever pace they needed to when they had the chance. Watching the others jump onto the platform that Sectonia conjured, Zenkichi’s mouth thinned into a line. That was a lot of people in one small area. Thankfully, Sandalphon decided that it might be wise not to group up too heavily, especially when they now had the risk, however small, of falling into a ravine with a freakin’ river of lava at the bottom! Without even a second thought, he followed after the Archangel.

As soon as she alighted upon the ledge that ran along the gorge’s right wall, Sandalphon followed the Octopath Travelers beneath an overhang. Not a moment later, the rear edge of the SFE’s safe zone passed them by. For the rest of the way, it would be up to the protruding lip above them to keep them safe from the timefall. Though mercifully smooth for the most part, this makeshift walkway was only a couple feet wide, so the four Seekers would need to advance in single file. Only another foot or two farther to the left, a sheet of rain poured down, practically a wall of water all the way to the lava below where the droplets sizzled and evaporated into steam. As a result, the depths of the ravine were very misty. Given Ms. Fortune’s warning about demons, and how much the quartet needed to look out for already, that haze would only make this harder.

Zenkichi kept himself fairly close to the wall of the ravine walkway, not willing to risk slipping and falling into a chasm with inevitable fiery doom at the bottom if he somehow survived the drop. No, that felt like a bad idea for some reason.

For a short time, Primrose blazed a trial without trouble, but the denizens of this hellish chasm reared their ugly heads before long. Several rose up to oppose the main group as they crossed up above, and from the back of her group Sandalphon lent a hand with a salvo of ether shots from below. For the most part, though, that storm would be the others’ to weather, for the archangel couldn’t turn her attention from her own predicament for long. Keen as ever, Sandalphon spotted a number of demonic eyes gleaming in the dark recesses of the gorge, mostly further down and half-illuminated by the infernal glow of the lava. She used her screens to discreetly point out where they lurked, but when the BB detected a BT, Sandalphon gave the travelers her full, undivided attention. When the Prowler sprung its ambush, she stopped, her pupils empty rings as she realized what the unchanged direction of the odradek must mean. On high alert, she quietly slipped the Eye of Sol from her back and took aim at the Prowler, even as the disturbed BT began to descend along the wall. To her horror, however, she could not stop her hands from shaking. She could not get a sure shot on the demon as it tangled with Therion; if she tried to silence the offending monster from afar, there was a very real chance of shooting an ally instead. But wasn’t anything preferable to getting caught by a BT?

Zenkichi, meanwhile, was watching the rear, trusting the three to take care of the Prowler themselves. He wasn’t planning to risk shooting into that melee, and of his weapons, he didn’t have much that he could swing here without hitting the wall or someone else.

All these thoughts made it impossible for Sandalphon to steady her aim, and after a moment, she realized that she had no choice but to trust in her comrades. Much to her relief, her faith paid off. Once Primrose skewered the Prowler with her striker, Therion managed to hurl it over the edge, and the pitch-black handprints -mere inches away from the travelers- pursued its howls instead. After a few more moments of tense, stock-still waiting, the threat had passed. Once the odradek’s frantic whirling quieted down back to periodic clicks, and Primrose signaled the all-clear, the four began again. Sandalphon passed the handprints left on the stone with an involuntary shudder, armed with the knowledge that attack could come from any angle. Zenkichi gave her a gentle pat on the shoulder, offering a smile for reassurance. He caught a brief glimpse of caret-shaped pupils for his efforts.

The four continued a few hundred feet, sometimes clambering over rubble on the ledges or hopping small gaps. Just after the path began to widen, however, disaster struck once more. A flurry of plasma bolts flew toward Primrose and Therion from the opposite side of the gorge, fired by warped, demon-possessed soldiers from a ledge on the far side, half-hidden by the rain. The bolts crashed against both the surrounding walls and the travelers’ bubble shields, hard enough to crack rock and barrier alike. To punctuate the salvo, a lone demon in craggy gray armor fired a beam of raw hell energy from its mutated claw, raking across Primrose’s shield inches from her BB’s pod. Her barrier shattered, and the gunners lined up their next shots.

“Take cover!” Sandalphon urged them. The group darted into an alcove just up ahead and dove behind cover. Sandalphon sunk down onto her knees behind a waist-high outcrop, while the others sheltered behind the walls. Plasma pounded the rock, kicking up sprays of dust and stony shards, but Sandalphon’s face remained placid. “Stay back,” she advised Primrose and Therion, her pupils becoming crosshairs. She cast a mirage at her current position, prompting a reactive salvo from the demons, then dispelled it to turn a tile ground beneath her blue. “We’ll handle this.”

”You got that right!’ Zenkichi reassured, dual revolvers at the ready as he kept in cover behind the wall. As the firing slowed, he watched to make sure that he wasn’t in Sandalphon’s line of fire before stepping out and peppering one of the possessed soldiers with bullets, easily felling it. ”Alright, that’s one down already!” He whooped, even as more fire crashed into the wall he was hiding behind.

As the barrage of plasma bolts petered out, Sandalphon arose suddenly from behind her cover to return fire. Before she could even get her rifle into position the Hell Reaver’s energy beam slammed into her head, or more accurately, her personal shield at head level. It took only a moment’s exposure to destroy the barrier, but the archangel ducked back down into hiding just as fast as she arose. Fortunately, her forehead and hair were only lightly singed. “Hmph,” she grumbled, annoyed that she’d taken such a clean shot, and that her assailant seemed to have anticipated her emergence. When she glanced up, however, she quickly realized the problem. “...My halo,” she stated. “It’s a dead giveaway.” As plasma bolts from the possessed spattered the area, she looked over her shoulder at Zenkichi, her pupils still shaped like crosshairs. Evidently she had a plan in mind. “Can you suppress them?”

”No problem!” Zenkichi replied, having reloaded his revolvers during the last volley of return fire. He popped out from behind cover, a barrage of fire slamming into him, but he grit his teeth and returned fire, even as his own personal shield broke. As his revolvers clicked dry, Zenkichi grunted and called out to Valjean, ”Triple Down!” The timely usage of his attack gave Zenkichi a boost to his defense from Preservation Protocol, blunting the damage from the last few hits he took before returning to cover.

The moment after the Persona fired off his skill, Sandalphon popped up again. In an instant she observed that the Triple Down had nailed one of the three Possessed and forced the other two into hiding alongside the troublesome Hell Reaver. For warped corpses they wielded surprising tactical intelligence, but this wouldn’t be a problem. Her unholy foes might have taken cover, but by now Sandalphon had abilities to solve problems that bullets could not.

She thrust her left hand out, and a Cerulean Mirage manifested among the demons. Her hologram appeared to be her spitting image, albeit in shimmering blue, but this mirage was much more than a pretty face. While it surprised and distracted the demons, Sandalphon took aim and fired the Eye of Sol at her distant doppelganger. When her bullet struck the mirage, it burst in a diamond-shaped blast of blue flame that withered the demons with double the damage of an ordinary bodyshot. It bowled the last two Possessed over their outcrops and sent them flailing down toward the lava below, and with the subtlest of smiles Sandalphon ducked back down into cover to return fire.

The Hell Reaver endured, however, and it returned fire with a cunning that the archangel did not anticipate. It unleashed its beam, aimed at the rocky overhang above the opposite ledge. As the stream of hell energy swept across the brittle, rain-worn stone, it shattered and fell in huge, deadly chunks straight toward Sandalphon below.

”Shit!” Zenkichi grunted out as he saw the beam of energy sweep overtop the Seekers, crumbling and destroying the overhang above them. He ran out of cover and dove at Sandalphon, pushing the Archangel out of the way just in time for a chunk to land where she had been standing. ”I got you.” He reassured Sandalphon as he stood up, glaring at the Hell Reaver. Ragnell appeared in his hands, and Zenkichi swept the blade through the air, launching an energy blast at the demon. However, in his haste, Zenkichi’s lack of familiarity with the holy blade resulted in the blast detonating just shy of its target, and Zenkichi clicked his tongue in disappointment as the Hell Reaver spooled up to fire again.

It was then that a spine-chilling noise resounded through the chasm, a product of no living thing. Within the span of a second, a black wave expanded from the demon’s position, spreading across the ground and the walls alike. From the way it glinted and glistened in the light of the lava below, it could only be tar, and the Hell Reaver started thrashing around as if gripped by unseen assailants. In this wounded state, though, its movements were clumsy, and it began to sink into the once solid ground beneath it.

Judging by the state of Sandalphon’s rapidly-shifting pupils, her mind had been scrambled somewhat Zenkichi’s body atop hers, but at that horrible sound she rebooted with haste. She rose in a hurry, stopping only to plant her hand to create a blue tile beneath her, then to scoop up the Eye of Sol from where it had fallen. She knelt and assumed a firing position, her face deadly serious. Once again she took aim at the demon’s head as it bucked and struggled, firing only to melt a hole in the wall behind it as the invisible hands yanked the Hell Raiser off its feet. The next moment it began to slide, first toward the tarry wall and then up it. Sandalphon’s barrel traced the demon’s impossible path, but it shook ever-so-slightly, even as the archangel held her breath. In another second, the demon would be dragged over the lip and out of sight.

Zenkichi rushed ahead, getting as close as he could as the demon was being yanked around by the BT. He dismissed Ragnell and drew a single revolver, reloading a pair of bullets into it with a shaky hand. Lifting the weapon to aim at the demon, Zenkichi breathed out, lining up the iron sight carefully. As the demon reached the corner, Zenkichi fired his revolver, the bullet striking the Hell Reaver in the head and reducing it to dust. The tension in his body almost immediately released, and he let out a heavy sigh, slumping down a bit. ”That was too close…” He muttered, shaking his head.

After a moment, Sandalphon lowered her rifle, her finger easing off the trigger. She watched as the demon’s ash dispersed and the tar pool faded, her face grim. Then she stood, her only sign of emotion the T-symbols in her eyes. Without looking back, she motioned for Primrose and Therion to emerge from the alcove. The odradek’s inactivity confirmed no BTs in the area, so the team could proceed, watchful for more demonic activity. While the threat had passed, this episode was not something that the archangel would soon forget.

Zenkichi dismissed his weapons and wiped a beat of sweat off his brow. The grim look on Sandalphon's face gave him pause. They'd nearly died. They'd all nearly died, because a bunch of monsters tried to attack them. He'd come close to death a few times in his life, but rarely had the difference been made by a single shot. He gave the others what he hoped was a reassuring smile before gesturing to them that it was time to go.